Submitted by jimbojang (not verified) on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 08:36.
The resultant lack of new investment and the flight of existing capital from Zimbabwe of course will be blamed on sanctions. It is madness Zanu-PF/Mugabe economic madness. What investor is going to invest when they control only 49% of a Zimbabwean company.
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has moved swiftly to reject new racist laws that were the brainchild of the government while Zanu-PF were still the majority in parliament.
"I am in charge of all policy formation in cabinet and neither myself nor the cabinet were shown these regulations before they were gazetted," former opposition leader Tsvangirai said in a statement. "They were published without due process as detailed in the constitution and are therefore null and void."
The law which was passed during 2008 requires white businessmen and women to cede control of their companies to black partners, with those that refuse to comply facing possible imprisonment of up to five years.
Those whites caught using their black employees as "fronts," would also be held criminally liable and face the same sanction.
In an "official" government notice companies worth $500,000 or more are afforded 45 days to submit compliance proposals. The power-sharing government, headed by President Robert Mugabe, would then decide how much of its shareholding is to be "ceded" to "indigenous" Zimbabweans. A list of those candidates who are deemed suitable for receiving those shares would be kept by the minister of indigenisation
According to the Zanu-PF it comes into effect from March 1 2010.
Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi, slammed the policy that defies the country's efforts to attract new investment calling it "old thinking" and "counter-productive".
He confirmed that the PM would be meeting with Mugabe as well as Empowerment Minister Saviour Kusukuwere on this issue.
Zimbabwean political analysts believe that the law is a deliberate attempt by Zanu-PF to try and bribe its shrinking support by handing out shares for loyalty. Similar to the use of land which was given to ensure support but resulted in a double whammy for Mugabe : It destroyed the agricultural sector and the economy which resulted in Mugabe having very little left to barter with for votes.
Shrinking popularity coupled to a devastated economy.
Mugabe's version of political stagflation where everything implodes rather than an increase in one occasioning a drop in the other. Inflation and employment - in this exercise - being replaced with other people's assets and their votes. Here the reduction of assets to hand out reducing just as quickly as the votes for Mugabe.
'Mugabenomics' which had served him so well, and the country so poorly after the referendum in 2000 now simply a case of throwing assets on the bonfire to Mugabe's vanity.
"It will obviously turn off investment very strongly," said economist Tony Hawkins. "It doesn't matter who they are, the Chinese, everyone. And the Chinese are the biggest investors. Companies most likely to be affected are foreign-owned and investors on Zimbabwe's stock exchange".
Of course all of this is a slap in the face for Tsvangirai who only last week told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that "confidence has returned" to Zimbabwe following a decade of economic collapse.
"This is the time to look at the country in a more positive light," he said.
Zimbabwean business executives are also understandably in shock at this latest setback.
"First they took the farms, now they are taking businesses."
The effect of Zimbabwe's racist policies have seen the white minority shrink from 200,000 to around 30,000 in just on 30 years with most major businesses now being run by blacks. In accordance therewith Mugabe and the Zanu-PF are now tilting at almost dormant windmills when using the fear of whites to plunder assets to increase their popularity.
The majority of Zimbabweans don't buy into it but they still have to keep one eye out for the real threat in the form of the military and police. If they don't get their patronage then political niceties be damned.
The resultant lack of new
The resultant lack of new investment and the flight of existing capital from Zimbabwe of course will be blamed on sanctions. It is madness Zanu-PF/Mugabe economic madness. What investor is going to invest when they control only 49% of a Zimbabwean company.
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has moved swiftly to reject new racist laws that were the brainchild of the government while Zanu-PF were still the majority in parliament.
"I am in charge of all policy formation in cabinet and neither myself nor the cabinet were shown these regulations before they were gazetted," former opposition leader Tsvangirai said in a statement. "They were published without due process as detailed in the constitution and are therefore null and void."
The law which was passed during 2008 requires white businessmen and women to cede control of their companies to black partners, with those that refuse to comply facing possible imprisonment of up to five years.
Those whites caught using their black employees as "fronts," would also be held criminally liable and face the same sanction.
In an "official" government notice companies worth $500,000 or more are afforded 45 days to submit compliance proposals. The power-sharing government, headed by President Robert Mugabe, would then decide how much of its shareholding is to be "ceded" to "indigenous" Zimbabweans. A list of those candidates who are deemed suitable for receiving those shares would be kept by the minister of indigenisation
According to the Zanu-PF it comes into effect from March 1 2010.
Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi, slammed the policy that defies the country's efforts to attract new investment calling it "old thinking" and "counter-productive".
He confirmed that the PM would be meeting with Mugabe as well as Empowerment Minister Saviour Kusukuwere on this issue.
Zimbabwean political analysts believe that the law is a deliberate attempt by Zanu-PF to try and bribe its shrinking support by handing out shares for loyalty. Similar to the use of land which was given to ensure support but resulted in a double whammy for Mugabe : It destroyed the agricultural sector and the economy which resulted in Mugabe having very little left to barter with for votes.
Shrinking popularity coupled to a devastated economy.
Mugabe's version of political stagflation where everything implodes rather than an increase in one occasioning a drop in the other. Inflation and employment - in this exercise - being replaced with other people's assets and their votes. Here the reduction of assets to hand out reducing just as quickly as the votes for Mugabe.
'Mugabenomics' which had served him so well, and the country so poorly after the referendum in 2000 now simply a case of throwing assets on the bonfire to Mugabe's vanity.
"It will obviously turn off investment very strongly," said economist Tony Hawkins. "It doesn't matter who they are, the Chinese, everyone. And the Chinese are the biggest investors. Companies most likely to be affected are foreign-owned and investors on Zimbabwe's stock exchange".
Of course all of this is a slap in the face for Tsvangirai who only last week told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that "confidence has returned" to Zimbabwe following a decade of economic collapse.
"This is the time to look at the country in a more positive light," he said.
Zimbabwean business executives are also understandably in shock at this latest setback.
"First they took the farms, now they are taking businesses."
The effect of Zimbabwe's racist policies have seen the white minority shrink from 200,000 to around 30,000 in just on 30 years with most major businesses now being run by blacks. In accordance therewith Mugabe and the Zanu-PF are now tilting at almost dormant windmills when using the fear of whites to plunder assets to increase their popularity.
The majority of Zimbabweans don't buy into it but they still have to keep one eye out for the real threat in the form of the military and police. If they don't get their patronage then political niceties be damned.