News / National
Mugabe gets tough
29 May 2014 at 08:19hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe has moved to bar his ministers from negotiating with potential foreign investors in a move meant to curb corruption and distortion of government's stance on Indigenisation, a Cabinet minister has said.
Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa told the National Assembly Wednesday that Indigenisation minister Francis Nhema had been tasked by Cabinet, the highest policy-making body, to craft a policy that bars individual ministers from negotiating with potential investors to prevent soliciting for kick backs and corruption.
Nhema, according to Chinamasa, will set out a clear investment procedure which will see investors not being subjected to meetings with various ministers and officials.
"Underlying the re-alignment is the removal of discretionary powers given to officials to curb corruption and ensure people are guided by the law," said Chinamasa.
"It is important that the policy sets out a clear law which will ensure that investors don't move from one minister to another or one official to another."
In the past, there have been allegations that some ministers were demanding bribes and kick-backs from potential investors for their projects to be approved and variation on the implementation of the black empowerment law.
According to Chinamasa, government embarked on a robust debate to deal with the controversial law which some economist claimed was chasing away investors much to the disadvantage of the country.
"There also has been a robust debate which is very healthy for our economy. Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment is essentially for advancing control of our resources. Any investor who comes into the country exploiting our resources must know there must be a win-win situation, both parties must benefit," he said.
He said the amended Indigenous law will take into account investors' expectations to reap returns on their investment.
"It is important to recognise that investors don't come here for charity, so it is incumbent on us to create the necessary investment atmosphere. The paper that minister Nhema is working on will regulate how we share the fruits with investors. Investors are welcome from the North, East or West," said Chinamasa
"We recognised that investors are not philanthropist but they are here to make money."
He said Nhema will table the proposed policy on how to tackle black empowerment to the Zanu PF politburo for securitisation by ruling party members before it becomes government policy.
His statement attracted robust debate from MDC-T members who wanted to know whether Zanu PF was now amending the Indigenisation law, repealing a section which demanded that foreigners should cede 51% equity in their companies to locals.
Chinamasa said government was in fact pushing for the ownership stake to 100% but will do so through a win-win agreement with foreigners.
Government is in the process of clarifying the Indigenisation Act to ensure a sector-specific approach that puts 100% ownership of resources in the hands of Zimbabweans.
Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa told the National Assembly Wednesday that Indigenisation minister Francis Nhema had been tasked by Cabinet, the highest policy-making body, to craft a policy that bars individual ministers from negotiating with potential investors to prevent soliciting for kick backs and corruption.
Nhema, according to Chinamasa, will set out a clear investment procedure which will see investors not being subjected to meetings with various ministers and officials.
"Underlying the re-alignment is the removal of discretionary powers given to officials to curb corruption and ensure people are guided by the law," said Chinamasa.
"It is important that the policy sets out a clear law which will ensure that investors don't move from one minister to another or one official to another."
In the past, there have been allegations that some ministers were demanding bribes and kick-backs from potential investors for their projects to be approved and variation on the implementation of the black empowerment law.
According to Chinamasa, government embarked on a robust debate to deal with the controversial law which some economist claimed was chasing away investors much to the disadvantage of the country.
He said the amended Indigenous law will take into account investors' expectations to reap returns on their investment.
"It is important to recognise that investors don't come here for charity, so it is incumbent on us to create the necessary investment atmosphere. The paper that minister Nhema is working on will regulate how we share the fruits with investors. Investors are welcome from the North, East or West," said Chinamasa
"We recognised that investors are not philanthropist but they are here to make money."
He said Nhema will table the proposed policy on how to tackle black empowerment to the Zanu PF politburo for securitisation by ruling party members before it becomes government policy.
His statement attracted robust debate from MDC-T members who wanted to know whether Zanu PF was now amending the Indigenisation law, repealing a section which demanded that foreigners should cede 51% equity in their companies to locals.
Chinamasa said government was in fact pushing for the ownership stake to 100% but will do so through a win-win agreement with foreigners.
Government is in the process of clarifying the Indigenisation Act to ensure a sector-specific approach that puts 100% ownership of resources in the hands of Zimbabweans.
Source - Zim Mail
