Indigenisation Minister says new regulation will not be reversed

By Violet Gonda
12 February 2010

Saviour Kasukuwere, the Minister of Indigenisation, in charge of the new regulation that requires businesses to hand over at least 51 per cent ownership to indigenous Zimbabweans, has said the regulation will not be reversed.

This follows statements by the MDC on Thursday calling upon the coalition government to reverse what it said were ‘destructive policies.’ The MDC said the regulation was railroaded through, and should be withdrawn in the national interest.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is also quoted in the media saying the gazette had been made without his knowledge. He told the UK Daily Telegraph: “I am in charge of all policy formulations by cabinet and these regulations were gazetted without being seen by either myself or cabinet.”

But Kasukuwere told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the inclusive government had discussed this. He said the law went through Parliament and claimed it was discussed by the Council of Ministers, which is chaired by the Prime Minister. The ZANU PF Minister said now the government’s position was ‘dry cleaning’ the regulation to improve on the law.

“There is no way we can even start talking about reversing these regulations because the Act is already taking place… and the regulations are to facilitate the administration of the Act. So you can’t talk about the reversal of the regulations without even talking about that,” said the Minister.

The controversial Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment bill was passed through Parliament in 2008 after tough resistance by MDC legislators, when the former ZANU PF government had a majority in Parliament. It had been on hold since then and was only gazetted last week.

Some say this move sends a very worrying message to potential investors who might already be concerned about government interference and that the process could easily lead to the chaos that followed the seizure of commercial farms. The MDC also accused ZANU PF of trying to create a new arena for looting and abuse. The party pointed out: “The so-called ‘indigenous people’ who are set to benefit from this criminal Bill are not the ordinary man and woman, but the well-connected elite and the ZANU PF chefs.”

But Kasukuwere insists: “We are not going to extort from anybody. It is not about trying to take anybody’s business. Secondly it’s not about nationalisation, and anyone who wants to participate as Zimbabweans will have to pay for their shares. But we are very clear about the need to empower our people.”

When asked why it has taken 30 years to do so, Kasukuwere responded by saying: “Today we find it is the correct moment in time for us to really address issues that affected our people and we have to remove the barriers that affected our people for a very long time.”

“So if one says it’s a racial issue, I am sorry, all I am dealing with is a historical issue that negated our people to become house-girls and house-boys,” he said.