Business
Zimbabwe insists that indigenization is not nationalization
Tsvangirai says it will push away investment, while 88-year-old Mugabe calls it “the next stage of our economic emancipation” after nearly 4,000 white-owned farms were seized in land reforms. Mugabe has threatened to nationalize companies that refuse to comply with the law.
There is also controversy over the state’s role in the eastern diamond mines over funds transparency, with profits said to prop up Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.
University of Zimbabwe professor Anthony Hawkins said the law will send “negative signals to potential investors” with the pressure put on Zimplats likely to push others to follow and hand in their own plans.
“If the biggest player on the block, Zimplats, is complying then you are going to see the smaller companies doing the same,” he said.
Copyright 2012 AFP
