Zim's empowerment drive is noble as long as it does not violate human rights: Charles Ray

The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray on Wednesday while touring Chakona-Muunganirwa  Irrigation Scheme in Bindura said Zimbabwe's empowerment drive is noble for as long as implementation does not violate human rights, adding that  uncertainty around property rights was stalling investment inflow into Zimbabwe.

The US official said politically motivated dispossession and retaliation were not the way to go for Zimbabwe because it created conflict at the expense of national good.

"Neither American businesses nor the American government oppose empowerment or more equitable distribution of national wealth.

But as Zimbabwe pursues these objectives, I hope you will remember that true empowerment does not come at your neighbour's expense," Ray said.

"As Zimbabwe moves into its future, perhaps its greatest challenge is to show its own citizens and foreign investors alike that their claims to property are safe.

Whether you are a farmer with leasehold, a business holding the title to a warehouse, or an investor with shares in a company, you will not be able to prosper unless everyone knows that your claim to that property is secure and cannot be taken from you without due process," he added.

Ray argued that the market is not concerned with who tills the land, but the rule of law and respect for property rights, insisting that people who can make good use of land should get a fair chance to make it as productive as possible without undercutting the production of others.

"Many of the Zimbabweans I have met think that my government is unhappy with President Mugabe and Zanu PF because of land reform.  Let me take a moment to set the record straight," said the US Ambassador.

"Long before Zimbabwe had A1 or A2 farmers, the US government recognised that land reform was necessary in Zimbabwe.  Access to land for more people was clearly needed for Zimbabwe to achieve the human dignity people fought for.

Yes, the US strongly opposes the violence and displacement through which land reform was achieved and which ended or disrupted far too many lives."

This comes as President Robert Mugabe yesterday launched the Tongogara Community Share Ownership Trust at Anglo-American Corporation's Unki Mine in Shurugwi.

The trust bagged 10 percent shares in the mining firm and a $10 million donation, becoming second to Zimplats'.
It was established as part of the company's compliance to a widely disputed Indigenisation Act which requires all foreign owned firms to cede at least 51 percent interests to local blacks.

The empowerment laws of 2007,  which economists say are a way to legitimise expropriation came seven years after the then ruling Zanu PF government unlawfully seized land from white commercial farmers in the controversial fast- track land reform.

Major companies that have complied with the indigenisation policy include lige group Old Mutual and diversified group Meikles.