Business / Economy
Am not chasing away investors from Zimbabwe: Roy Bennett
09 Apr 2011 at 07:34hrs | Views
Exiled MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett has denied media reports that he is chasing away investors from Zimbabwe.
Bennett ruffled a few top feathers last month when he used an investment conference in Cape Town to tell the London listed company, Old Mutual, to withdraw controversial shareholding in a company involved in the "illicit" diamond mining that is occurring in Marange.
Speaking on our Question Time programme Bennett said; "ZANU PF have taken a spin on this and said I am discouraging investment from Zimbabwe, far from the truth. Ethical investment is welcome, has happened, will continue to happen and will continue to be there for the long term future of Zimbabwe.
Bennett, who was forced to relocate to South Africa owing to persistent victimization and endless cooked-up court cases, said; "Unethical investment, at the expense of the people, at the expense of human rights, that fuels hatred, violence and anything against the people, is short-lived."
Old Mutual has a 16 percent shareholding in the New Reclamation Group, a company that partnered the government to extract diamonds in Marange. Bennett argues the diamond fields are controlled by the military junta and were "attained over the dead bodies of hundreds of impoverished Zimbabweans."
"That is a totally shady deal with Mbada Diamonds and the Mineral Marketing Board. You have the community of Marange that has been displaced, that have been killed, that have been brutalized around those diamond fields.
If anyone should benefit from those resources it's the people of Marange. Bennett added; "The investment has not met the standards of transparency and the monies out of those diamond mines basically ends up fuelling the violence against the people of Zimbabwe to endorse an autocratic dictatorship.'
Bennett, who says he will continue to speak his mind, is also questioning Old Mutual's shareholding in Zimpapers, the publishers of The Herald, The Sunday Mail and other state run papers.
"Their stake in Zimpapers is seriously questionable. If we look at the hatred that is spewed out and fanning the violence and fanning every 'ism' that is possible, it is those dirty little rags."
Bennett ruffled a few top feathers last month when he used an investment conference in Cape Town to tell the London listed company, Old Mutual, to withdraw controversial shareholding in a company involved in the "illicit" diamond mining that is occurring in Marange.
Speaking on our Question Time programme Bennett said; "ZANU PF have taken a spin on this and said I am discouraging investment from Zimbabwe, far from the truth. Ethical investment is welcome, has happened, will continue to happen and will continue to be there for the long term future of Zimbabwe.
Bennett, who was forced to relocate to South Africa owing to persistent victimization and endless cooked-up court cases, said; "Unethical investment, at the expense of the people, at the expense of human rights, that fuels hatred, violence and anything against the people, is short-lived."
Old Mutual has a 16 percent shareholding in the New Reclamation Group, a company that partnered the government to extract diamonds in Marange. Bennett argues the diamond fields are controlled by the military junta and were "attained over the dead bodies of hundreds of impoverished Zimbabweans."
"That is a totally shady deal with Mbada Diamonds and the Mineral Marketing Board. You have the community of Marange that has been displaced, that have been killed, that have been brutalized around those diamond fields.
If anyone should benefit from those resources it's the people of Marange. Bennett added; "The investment has not met the standards of transparency and the monies out of those diamond mines basically ends up fuelling the violence against the people of Zimbabwe to endorse an autocratic dictatorship.'
Bennett, who says he will continue to speak his mind, is also questioning Old Mutual's shareholding in Zimpapers, the publishers of The Herald, The Sunday Mail and other state run papers.
"Their stake in Zimpapers is seriously questionable. If we look at the hatred that is spewed out and fanning the violence and fanning every 'ism' that is possible, it is those dirty little rags."
Source - SWR
