Stand up to the vultures

We do not know whether the President and his Zanu (PF) party genuinely miss the point or they simply refuse to see what should be obvious even to the dumbest village idiot. Their ill-timed and ill-conceived empowerment plan will scare away investors, while the little that remains of commerce and industry will collapse in just as dramatic a fashion as happened with farming.

For the record, we are not against the economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged Zimbabweans. Empowerment is a noble objective that in fact we should not allow any one political party to monopolise or, as some would say, privatise the programme. It is a national agenda!

But the point is: any proposal to transfer majority shareholding in companies to indigenous Zimbabweans that is not backed by a viable funding plan as is the case with the scheme promoted by Zanu (PF) is no more than a proposal to loot foreign-held shares in private firms in the style of farm seizures.

Given the chaos, violence, corruption and injustices that accompanied Mugabes fast-track land reforms, agriculture would have collapsed anyhow. But the black villagers resettled on former white farms could have produced at least enough maize to feed the country only if Mugabe had the money to support them with skills training, seeds, fertilizer and other resources to maintain production.

He did not have the money and worsened the situation by giving nearly all the most productive former commercial farms to his family, friends and Zanu (PF) allies, some who cannot even tell the difference between a cow and a goat. The result was to turn a once self-sufficient and proud people into a nation of paupers and beggars!

Where will Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere get the money to fund transfer of shareholding from mines, industries and other companies? The 15 percent stake that platinum giants Zimplats reserved for locals since many moons ago remains untouched simply because no one can raise the funds.

Why does Zanu (PF) seem so convinced that economic empowerment on one hand and good business practice, justice and the rule of law on the other are mutually exclusive? Just as we thought we were beginning to claw our way out of the economic mire into which Zanu (PF) plunged us with its self-serving policies they come up with another cruel scheme to loot what remains of the national economy. This is just so unfair!

The genuine need for black economic empowerment cannot be an excuse for common theft and pillage by a few – and now far from disadvantaged – black Zanu (PF) followers. But the call is yours to make Zimbabweans: you either sit back and watch this planned new orgy of theft unfold and the future of your children plundered right before your eyes or you stand up to the vultures Now!