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Mugabe OKs nationalisation law
09/03/2008 16:11 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe has signed into law a bill giving local owners the right
to take majority control of foreign companies - including mines
and banks - a government newspaper reported on Sunday.
Analysts fear the move could sound the death knell for an
economy that has also suffered from foreign investor flight, and
is struggling with the world's highest inflation rate of over
100 000%.
The government has sought to allay business fears of a
blanket seizure of companies by saying the authorities would
work with different industries to set timetables for
foreign-owned firms to transfer shares to locals.
The Sunday Mail said Mugabe, who is seeking re-election in
general elections on March 29, had approved the controversial
bill in a seal of assent in a weekend government gazette of
legal notices.
"President Mugabe has assented to the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Bill, paving the way for the indigenisation
of Zimbabwe's economy and the economic empowerment of the
country's indigenous citizens," the weekly said.
The government gazette was not immediately available on
Sunday, and the minister in charge of black empowerment was also
unavailable to comment on the issue. Fierce resistance
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party rammed the bill through Parliament
last September despite fierce resistance from the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change which saw it as a drive to enrich
a few powerful individuals and to win votes in the elections.
Mugabe's government - which critics accuse of plunging
Zimbabwe into turmoil by seizing white-owned farms and handing
them to inexperienced black farmers - says the bill is part of
its drive to empower the country's poor majority.
Mining and business industry officials have warned the law
could quicken the decline of Zimbabwe's economy, which has
shrunk by at least 30% since 1999.
A separate bill on the key mining sector has been published
and government officials expect Mugabe's Zanu-PF to push it
through later this year if it is re-elected on March 29.
Mugabe, 84 and in power since independence from Britain in
1980, denies he has mismanaged one of Africa's most promising
economies and has predicted a massive win for his party.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader is facing a stiff challenge
from his former finance minister, Simba Makoni, and long time
rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC. But analysts say the divided
opposition may hand victory to Mugabe.
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