Mugabe vows to continue forcing companies to cede economic control

Friday 16 August 2013 19:17

SABC

Robert Mugabe says Zimbabwean indigenisation and empowerment drive will continue. (REUTERS)

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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has vowed to press on with his policy of forcing all companies to cede economic control to black Zimbabweans. He says black Zimbabweans need help as they faced discrimination during white minority rule.

Mugabe has also denied opposition claims that the voting was rigged in his favour.

President Mugabe's policy of seizing most of Zimbabwe's white-owned farms is widely seen as having caused the country's economic collapse. Mugabe says giving black Zimbabweans control of the business sector is the next step, and the election result gave him a resounding mandate to do so.

Mugabe says, "The indigenisation and empowerment drive will continue in order to ensure that indigenous Zimbabweans enjoy a larger share of the country's resources."

Already, foreign-owned companies have to ensure that they are at least 51 percent locally owned. Analysts say this has scared off potential investment from abroad. There are reports that local operations of foreign-owned mining companies have already been targeted, while banks could be next.

"Now that the people of Zimbabwe have granted us a resounding mandate in the governance of the country, we will do everything in our power to ensure that our objective of total indigenisation, empowerment, development and employment is realized."

Zimbabwe's economic meltdown halted in 2009 after a power-sharing government was established and the local currency abandoned. Some of Mugabe's allies have suggested that the Zimbabwean dollar could now be re-introduced.

His critics say much of the land seized from white farmers was either given to his cronies or to people who lacked the expertise or resources to use it productively.