* Empowerment seen as political rhetoric by Tsvangirai
* Worries of fresh economic damage rise
By Jon Herskovitz
JOHANNESBURG, March 1 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s demand
that foreign companies turn over majority stakes to locals is
being driven by upcoming elections and scaring investors away,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Thursday.
Mining firms, banks and retailers have grown increasingly
worried about the law, pushed by Tsvangirai’s rival and
coalition partner, President Robert Mugabe.
“It is political rhetoric,” Tsvangirai told an investment
forum in Johannesburg. “The indigenisation law as it currently
is – there is no talk of nationalisation. There is no talk of
grabbing property.”
Tsvangirai said politicians can make promises of bringing
riches to the masses, but the law states market prices must be
paid for the stakes in foreign firms and there is not enough
money in private hands to make that happen.
“Our people don’t have the necessary resources to buy the
equity that is currently existing in the economy,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s economy was a basket case, with inflation running
at astronomical levels, before a coalition was formed between
Mugabe and his long-time foe Tsvangirai after a disputed
election in 2008.
Continued…
