Business / Economy
Zanu-PF plans 'unique' wealth-transfer model
06 Aug 2013 at 06:31hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe, who won a disputed election last month, plans to transform the economy over the next five years through policies of indigenization and economic empowerment, the ruling party said.
Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front have been given a "clear mandate to transform the economy," the party said in an e-mailed statement handed to reporters today in the capital, Harare.
"Over the next five years, Zimbabwe is going to witness a unique wealth-transfer model that will see ordinary people take charge of their economy," it said.
Mugabe, 89, extended his 33-year rule of the southern African nation with 61 percent of the vote in the July 31 election and his party secured a two-thirds majority in parliament. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who won 34 percent, called on the African Union and the 15-nation Southern African Development Community to back his demand for a rerun.
Zimbabwe's benchmark stock index fell 11 percent yesterday, the biggest fall since 2009.
While African countries largely endorsed the vote as credible, the U.S. called the vote "deeply flawed," while the U.K. said it had "grave concerns over the conduct of the election."
Mugabe and Zanu-PF have forced mining companies such as Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. and Anglo American Platinum Ltd. to cede majority stakes in their local assets to black Zimbabweans or the government. The southern African nation has the world's second-biggest platinum and chrome reserves, as well as diamond, gold and coal deposits. Tsvangirai had promised to repeal the measure.
Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front have been given a "clear mandate to transform the economy," the party said in an e-mailed statement handed to reporters today in the capital, Harare.
"Over the next five years, Zimbabwe is going to witness a unique wealth-transfer model that will see ordinary people take charge of their economy," it said.
Mugabe, 89, extended his 33-year rule of the southern African nation with 61 percent of the vote in the July 31 election and his party secured a two-thirds majority in parliament. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who won 34 percent, called on the African Union and the 15-nation Southern African Development Community to back his demand for a rerun.
Zimbabwe's benchmark stock index fell 11 percent yesterday, the biggest fall since 2009.
While African countries largely endorsed the vote as credible, the U.S. called the vote "deeply flawed," while the U.K. said it had "grave concerns over the conduct of the election."
Mugabe and Zanu-PF have forced mining companies such as Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. and Anglo American Platinum Ltd. to cede majority stakes in their local assets to black Zimbabweans or the government. The southern African nation has the world's second-biggest platinum and chrome reserves, as well as diamond, gold and coal deposits. Tsvangirai had promised to repeal the measure.
Source - Bloomberg
