'We cannot be cheated any longer,' says Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe has vowed to continue with his indigenisation policy of seizing the majority stake in foreign-owned firms.

Addressing journalists after the swearing-in of his new cabinet, the 89-year-old veteran leader said he wanted to see indigenisation, adding that the country's economic recovery would be anchored on the mining, manufacturing and agriculture industries.  

The veteran leader said government would form mining joint ventures with foreign investors as long as they complied with the indigenisation policy. Government's contribution, he said, would be the resources under the ground.

"We cannot be cheated any longer," Mugabe said.

"Our resources matter much more than their sophisticated equipment. Our contribution is what we have (underground). We have refused to add more capital. Digging does not make one the owner of the resources underground.

"Our resources are a possession that we would pass on as a legacy to future generations until Armageddon. We cannot deprive those future generations of what they are entitled by nature."

Mugabe's new cabinet has 26 ministers and a new Indigenisation Minister Francis Nhema replaces Saviour Kasukuwere who has been given the Water, Environment and Climate ministry.

Critics of the policy have said it mainly benefits a few elites.