Tsvangirai U-turn on indigenisation?

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Tsvangirai U-turn on indigenisation
12/03/2010 00:00:00 by Backpedalling ... Morgan Tsvangirai Related Stories

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has launched a surprise defence of Zimbabwe’s indigenisation laws, just weeks after calling them “null and void”.

Backpedalling from his earlier position on the controversial law which requires foreign-owned firms to cede majority shareholding to locals, Tsvangirai told a symposium in Harare that the policy was “in the best interests of the people of Zimbabwe”.

"I want to assure you that there is no intention on the part of the government to undermine investment, but to promote broad-based indigenisation and empowerment,” Tsvangirai was quoted as saying at a conference on public-private enterprise partnerships on Thursday.

He added: "Sometimes investors get alarmed when a policy is announced without clarification, but I want to assure you that the policy is in the best interests of the people of Zimbabwe.

"The policy intends to enhance local participation and, of course, not the enrichment of a few people.”

Tsvangirai furiously hit out when the government published statutory regulations of the Indigenisation And Economic Empowerment Act 2008 last month, saying he had not been consulted.

The regulations, which took effect on March 1, compel foreign-owned firms with assets of over US$500,000 to draw up plans of ceding 51 percent shareholding to “indigenous Zimbabweans” by May.
These companies then have five years to conform with the law.

On February 2, Tsvangirai declared: “I am in charge of all policy formation in the cabinet and neither myself nor the cabinet were shown these regulations before they were gazetted.

“They were published without due process detailed in the constitution and are therefore null and void.�... ...

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