Indigenous Empowerment Bill guarantees more looting by Zanu PF

By Tererai Karimakwenda
24 August 2007

The Third Session of the Sixth Parliament is bound to provide some dramatic moments when a new Bill introduced by government this week is debated. Parliament opened on Tuesday and government wasted no time. On Wednesday ZANU-PF tabled the Indigenous Economic Empowerment Bill, aimed at giving majority control of foreign-owned companies to locals, but excluding white Zimbabweans. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has already dismissed the Bill as a ZANU-PF ploy to acquire and vandalise private firms, the way the party took over and destroyed agriculture.

Indigenous is described as "any person who was disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on the grounds of race before independence in 1980"- a roundabout way of saying “no whites allowed.” Economic analyst John Robertson said he is not surprised at all because the government has shown the same inclination to discriminate against white Zimbabweans for years. He added: “Their stance is that white Zimbabweans have no business being in Zimbabwe no matter whether they were born here or arrived here as immigrants, or are descendants of the pioneers who came here over 100 years ago. So their feeling appears to be any discriminatory legislation they bring to bear on the white population is fully justified. And if they don’t like it they should leave.”

There are many foreign-owned companies still opperating in Zimbabwe, including Barclays Plc and Anglo American. Essentially the Bill will require them to sell 51% of their shares to locally owned firms or risk losing their license and registration. They must also do half of their business with local companies. The government itself will be required to procure 75% of its goods and services from locally owned companies and to deal only with indigenous banks and accounting firms. The government’s success in destroying manufacturing and production will clearly make these requirements impossible to realise.

Regarding accusations that the legislation is meant mainly to benefit companies aligned with the ruling party, Robertson said this was true. He explained that ZANU-PF wants to have majority shares. Once this is done, they will then have the power to appoint the company chairmen and directors who will take instruction from the party. He said: “Government’s wishes will be expressed in the business sector through them. And if these people fail to do so, they will be retired or resigned and replaced by new people who will carry out government’s wishes.”

In other related news; in Bulawayo the government has been accused of only re-licensing abattoirs whose owners have close links to the ruling party. A report on the Zimonline news site said out of 42 abattoirs that were given back their licenses, none of the six white-owned private abattoirs in Bulawayo had been re-licensed.