Beneficiaries are actors too.pdf - Southern Institute of Peace ...

Zimbabweans are empowered it means their (foreign
investors) investments are secure because if people are
economically disenfranchised it is no good for business in
the long term…The asset underground has value. Gone
are the days when investors could get claims for free.
Zimbabweans are no longer satisfied with surviving on
taxes and royalties but they want equity. (Ruzvidzo, 2011)
The need for an indigenous or local component in the country's
economy is therefore an imperative aspect of the current and even
of the succeeding regimes. Any derogation from this policy thrust
might give rise to political instability in the country in the present
or at any time in the future. Zimbabwe is a peculiar case in terms
of empowerment programmes implemented by the government.
Though negative effects will be experienced in the short term, if
properly handled, the empowerment of previously disempowered
and unempowered people can ensure both political and economic
stability in the future. The current indigenisation drive, which is
an endogenous approach to economic development, also has an
advantage to the country because it seems to be politically
supported by all or most of the parties in the Inclusive
Government. Further, when election time finally comes, no single
party can claim that it pushed the indigenisation drive on its own.
This has the potential of levelling out the political play field in a
way that reduces the risk of violent political clashes.
Challenges of economic empowerment in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's economic empowerment initiatives, driven by a
desire to indigenise a significant portion of the local economy, do
not only have benefits in their fold but they also have potentially
politically and economically destabilising manifestations. While
in the interim, the political leadership of the GNU has been at
pains to present uniform views on indigenisation as a common
front, various inconsistent and conflicting views have cropped up
from various party functionaries, commentaries in the media and
from the technocrats who know the technical aspects of such
initiatives and the respective legislations. As already mentioned
the fear is that in the present, the legislation might result in
capital flight and introduce hesitancy in the planning and
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