Zimbabwe debates nationalisation

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s parliament opens a new session this week to debate radical plans to nationalise foreign firms and a law empowering the house to name President Robert Mugabe’s likely successor without a national vote.

Mugabe, the southern African state’s sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, will on Tuesday officially open the last session of the House of Assembly and the upper Senate ahead of general polls due by next March. Political analysts say the proposed legislation before the chambers, including the constitutional bill seeking to combine parliamentary and presidential elections and the economic empowerment bill, could increase uncertainties about Zimbabwe’s future.”On the economic side, we are looking at a government that is, in word and in deed, continuing with radical policies, which in respect of the farm seizures, badly hurt the economy,” said Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe.”The nationalisation of foreign firms may have a similar impact if it is handled as badly as the land redistribution programme,” he added.Masunungure said the Constitutional Amendment Bill consolidating the electoral calendar, with clauses giving parliament power to elect a new president if a vacancy occurred between elections, could give Mugabe an avenue to retire after the 2008 polls with room to influence who will succeed him.”I know that the concept of a dignified exit for Mugabe has been dismissed by some people, and that there those who believe he wants to hang onto power for life, but I think Mugabe also knows that his future depends on creating enough space to manoeuvre,” he said.”To me that bill gives him space for some exit, but then politics is not a clinical game with predictable results.”Mugabe, 83, is seeking re-election in 2008 and analysts say he is sure to use the empowerment law to enrich supporters and consolidate ranks before those elections.Leading economic consultant John Robertson said the black economic empowerment and a nationalisation drive, which the government hopes will start October, would further damage an economy already hit by Mugabe’s other controversial policies.Mugabe plans to transfer control of all companies, including foreign banks and some mining operations, to locals under the black empowerment bill.Nampa-ReutersPolitical analysts say the proposed legislation before the chambers, including the constitutional bill seeking to combine parliamentary and presidential elections and the economic empowerment bill, could increase uncertainties about Zimbabwe’s future.”On the economic side, we are looking at a government that is, in word and in deed, continuing with radical policies, which in respect of the farm seizures, badly hurt the economy,” said Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe.”The nationalisation of foreign firms may have a similar impact if it is handled as badly as the land redistribution programme,” he added.Masunungure said the Constitutional Amendment Bill consolidating the electoral calendar, with clauses giving parliament power to elect a new president if a vacancy occurred between elections, could give Mugabe an avenue to retire after the 2008 polls with room to influence who will succeed him.”I know that the concept of a dignified exit for Mugabe has been dismissed by some people, and that there those who believe he wants to hang onto power for life, but I think Mugabe also knows that his future depends on creating enough space to manoeuvre,” he said.”To me that bill gives him space for some exit, but then politics is not a clinical game with predictable results.”Mugabe, 83, is seeking re-election in 2008 and analysts say he is sure to use the empowerment law to enrich supporters and consolidate ranks before those elections.Leading economic consultant John Robertson said the black economic empowerment and a nationalisation drive, which the government hopes will start October, would further damage an economy already hit by Mugabe’s other controversial policies.Mugabe plans to transfer control of all companies, including foreign banks and some mining operations, to locals under the black empowerment bill.Nampa-Reuters