{{Zimbabwe’s veteran President Robert Mugabe on Friday tried to assure spooked foreign investors that his indigenisation policy is not about asset seizures, softening his tone amid renewed economic troubles.}}<\/p>\n
“There is no expropriation or nationalisation of shares held by non-indigenous persons,” Mugabe said at the opening of country’s main trade fair in Bulawayo.<\/p>\n
Frozen out of foreign debt markets and plagued by years of political crises and international sanctions, Zimbabwe faces what the central bank has called a “severe and persistent liquidity crunch”.<\/p>\n
Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned farms and an indigenisation law introduced in 2010 that forced foreign companies to cede majority shares to Zimbabwean partners, led to an exodus of capital.<\/p>\n
So far the policy has only been applied to mines, but critics say it has been a deterrent to badly needed investment.<\/p>\n
“We would want investment from abroad,” the 90-year-old leader said, adding that the controversial indigenisation policy has been “subject to misinterpretation and misrepresentation”.<\/p>\n
“We have not nationalised a single company ever since our independence,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I, therefore, invite bona fide local and foreign potential investors to come on board and seize the vast trade and investment opportunities available in the various economic sectors.”<\/p>\n
His comments are the strongest signal yet that the hard-line leader is softening an earlier vow to pursue the controversial indigenisation policy with “renewed vigour”.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the government was drawing up a “comprehensive plan which will handle this [indigenisation] issue sector by sector”.<\/p>\n
Mugabe vowed his government will fight to mend the economy despite hardships including high unemployment, company closures and a liquidity crunch.<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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