Posted: 3/10/2008 1:18:02 PM EDT
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This ought to work as well as his seizing the farms. Mugabe seeks control of foreign firms Search Search Go Independent.co.uk Web Bookmark & Share By Basildon Peta in Johannesburg Monday, 10 March 2008 Foreign firms operating in Zimbabwe will be required to give majority control to black Zimbabweans under a nationalisation law signed by President Robert Mugabe yesterday. More than 70 British firms that have invested in Zimbabwe, including Lever Brothers, Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, BP, Rio Tinto, Merchant Bank of Central Africa and several enterprises owned by Anglo American Corporation, are among those likely to be hit by the new law unless they can persuade the government to halt its implementation. But fighting a crunch presidential election in three weeks' time, and eager to maintain the support of his cronies in the state security apparatus, Mr Mugabe is unlikely to back down on his new "empowerment" drive. "It's a catastrophe," said Eddie Cross, an economist and former leader of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries. "This is totally unacceptable and many large foreign firms badly needed for economic revival in this country are simply going to abandon their businesses." Zimbabwean government sources said Mr Mugabe rushed to sign the Economic Empowerment Act at the weekend because he was fearful that he could lose a huge chunk of his backers to the former finance minister, Simba Makoni, who is challenging him in the forthcoming presidential elections. In tandem with the new ownership rules, the new law confers ownership of tractors, generators, fuel and livestock seized from white farms on new black owners. Dr Makoni, who has been excluded from state radio and television since he announced his challenge, is believed to enjoy significant backing from within Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF and parts of the military, although few have come out to publicly declare their support, fearing reprisals. "Since there are no farms left to seize for redistribution, the foreign firms offered him [Mugabe] the best prospects for patronage," said a senior Zanu PF official, who remains in the ruling party but is secretly supporting Dr Makoni. The Zimbabwean president unleashed his campaign of occupying and seizing white-owned farms in 2000, when he faced parliamentary elections. The land-grab has brought about the collapse of the country's commercial agriculture sector, once the economic mainstay of Zimbabwe and much of the southern African region. Official inflation has climbed to 100,000 per cent and unemployment to 85 per cent. More than three million Zimbabweans, a third of the population, have fled. The Zimbabwean dollar, which was stronger than the US dollar and equal in value to the British pound when Ian Smith handed over the country to Mr Mugabe in 1980, is worthless. About 55 million Zimbabwean dollars will now buy a pound. But analysts believe that the new law, the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill, crushes any prospect of economic recovery. "The only way out for Zimbabwe now is the removal of Mugabe's regime on 29 March and its replacement with a government that will introduce new sensible business arrangements," said one bank economist. According to the new Act, indigenous black Zimbabweans will own at least 51 per cent of the shares of every public company and other business. No restructuring, merger or de-merger can be approved unless indigenous Zimbabweans hold 51 per cent of shares in the resultant business. No projected or proposed investment in a prescribed sector of the economy will be approved unless a controlling interest is reserved. Financing arrangements for the majority equities are as good as requiring foreign firms to give their equity for free, said Mr Cross www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mugabe-seeks-control-of-foreign-firms-793688.html |
I am amazed over the lack of attention on this. Imagine the endless shit storm that would occur if some gov demanded whitey to own at least 51% of the shares of every public company and other business. |
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Memo To: Lever Brothers, Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, BP, Rio Tinto, Merchant Bank of Central Africa Re: Nationalisation Give them the other 49%. The whole house of cards will collapse sooner and you can go in and pick up whatever's left. And you may not wind up  From the official Zw website  Zimbabwean agriculture at work The future face of Zimbabwean banking  |
| Just curious... if a major bank like Barclays has to suddenly eject from a country on short notice, what happens to the loans? If they can't find an "indigenous" bank to sell the loans to, does that mean that the bank just walks away and the farmer who took out the loan now has "free" land? Or does Mugabe sieze the accounts? This will be fun to watch, especially if Mugabe starts seizing banks before the election. |
Serves those companies right to loose their collective @$$es in this deal to fill a vacuum left by other western companies. Maybe the PRC or something can fill the void. 
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What ever is going on with his lip is always creeping me out. |
Actually, some of these companies might have considerable assets. I don't know for sure, but Lever (owned by UniLever) might have assets, including manufacturing, other industry, real estate, etc. I knew the CEO of one of the biggest companies in Nigeria (United Africa Company - owned by UniLever), which had faced a similar nationalization, and had to "share" 50/50 with the Nigerian government. UniLever would appoint one CEO, and the Nigerian government would appoint one CEO, and the company would be jointly managed. UniLever had all sorts of businesses under the UAC umbrella at the time, including heavy industry (motors, busses, trucks), manufacturing (cosmetics, food products), agriculture, real estate, etc. UniLever's attitude was that they'd stop INVESTING into the company, but getting 50% of the revenue was better than walking away and getting nothing. Of course, once the co-CEO was appointed, the corruption was rampant. I was told by the european CEO that if they could jsut limit the worst of the corruption, they could probably double the company profits. However, he was told by the London office to not not investigate or push agressively, because they were pretty sure he'd be killed if he did.  But, as long as they are making SOME money, with no investment, it's still better than no money. 
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How much you want to bet Mugabe tries to keep these companies' foreign employees from leaving the country? There's a good chance they'll end up hostages to ensure that the companies don't take the action you've described. |
Welcome to "Black Rule".............  It won't be long before Zimbabwe is just another African Shithole.........
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I guess there's no real news here (it's not even on Drudge right now); whadda ya expect from bastidges like that, trying to milk a cow dry without feeding it. Maybe he can get Al Sharpton & Jesse to move over there & help him (ruin) I mean run the place Executive Outcomes (are they still around?) Needs to "consult" the good govt. of Rhodesia. |
 It already is part of the Africa Shithole continent. |
They've been at the bottom of the hill for about 10 years now. Everything since then is a strip mine into economics by stupid. Everything Mugabe is doing has already been shown (by other governments) to be incredibly regressive policy. |
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I've watched Rhodesia go from being the breadbasket of Africa to being unable to feed its own people in a little over one generation. Of course, now we have Obama and Clinton wanting some of the same policies here, and people are lapping it up. Change! Fire it up! If only it was legal to give the idiots the kind of fire they deserve. |
Just watching 'Black Hawk Down' and 'Blood Diamond' will probably give you a sense of what 85% of African continent is all about. |