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

eventual agreement on the implementation of agreed policies. In
the current political set up in Zimbabwe policies could be used for
cheap political scores that will count most in the envisaged and
not so remote general elections. Though echoes of agreement do
sometimes come out from the corridors of the various political
offices, there still remains a visible disagreement between the
parties in the inclusive government on the issue of indigenisation.
Political unity is however very crucial when dealing with issues of
such magnitude, issues which have an impact on the immediate
and future economic fortunes of the country.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime
Minister Tsvangirai has cautioned that, 'New rules demanding
that at least 51% of mining operations should be indigenously
owned have to be carefully managed, lest they frighten away
tentative investors' (The Africa Report, 2011). Further, in a sign
of a widening gap in the perceptions of both the MDC-T and the
Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF),
instead of giving full support to the indigenisation programme
currently being implemented, the MDC-T unveiled its own
economic development and empowerment plan (Maodza, 2011).
This signals lack of the desired political support that the
indigenisation programme desperately desires in this era of the
inclusive government. There is also a risk that if MDC-T gets into
power, the current indigenisation programme may be terminated
midway and replaced by the above stated programme. The fear of
investor flight mentioned above is also shared by a cross section
of the business community who feel that the programme should
not be more political in outlook but should be more technocratic
and investor friendly. To ZANU PF any attempt to derail or delay
the programme using whatever means might not be acceptable
because that would mean continuation of colonialism through
invisible hands. However in trying to drive the point home that
neo-colonialism will not be tolerated, ZANU PF has also added to
the confusion bedevilling the current indigenisation process by
way of threats that companies originating from countries that
have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe face the risk of
expropriation. Whether these are empty threats or real threats,
the overall effect is that the potential investor is left pondering on
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