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Onus is on political leaders in the country to put their house in order by committing themselves to address the issue of bad politics

Foreigners keen to invest in Zimbabwe despite bad politics



Zimbabwe-Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai and leader of the Movement for Democratic Patry (MDC-T) has said that foreigners are keen to invest in the country despite the volatile political environment that has witnessed the bloodbath between supporters of the major political parties.
Addressing a press conference in the capital Harare today, Tsvangirai, who is seen as the only person to give 88 year old President Robert Mugabe, real tough political competition since independence in 1980, said when he went to London, a fortnight ago, he discovered that foreigners want to invest their money in the country. He however pointed out that the onus is on political leaders in the country to put their house in order by committing themselves to address the issue of bad politics. "Two weeks ago, I travelled to London to address the Times CEO Africa conference. Despite the bad politics, it is always encouraging to note that there is a lot of interest in investing in Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular. We are sitting on huge potential and our small responsibility is to sort out our politics and we will definitely rediscover the full potential of this great country," said Tsvangirai. PM Tsvangirai said the indigenisation policy, mainly championed by Mugabe's Zanu PF, which requires that foreign owned companies cedes 51 percent of their shares to local blacks, continued to scare away investors.

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He said the policy affects operations of other government ministries, adding that he would address the issue tomorrow at a special Council of Ministers meeting. "The indigenisation policy continues to affect many sectors of the economy and the mixed messages have not helped matters. "To this end I am convening a special Council of Ministers meeting tomorrow to deal with this issue in the presence of all ministries that have been affected. "The fact is that you cannot have a Ministry of Investment Promotion while at the same time appearing to have adopted a policy that does not in any way promote investment in the country," he said. The Premier said Africa continues to be dogged by coups and that some leaders refuse to relinguish power when they are defeated in elections. He however praised the international community for keeping a watchful eye over such leaders and ensuring that the will of the people is not subverted. "Many African countries have their own cabals itching to subvert civilian processes and threatening to disrespect the will of the people." "The good news is that time is not on their side and as we saw in the Ivory Coast, the world will not allow the bullet to triumph over the ballot," said Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai also stressed on the need for the regional body, Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to keep an eye on developments in Zimbabwe, particularly in ensuring that agreed reforms by the three political parties, Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, that form the coalition government are implemented.


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Stephen Chadenga -- Bio and Archives

Stephen Chandega is a journalist in Zimbabwe


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