Posted on 05/20/2012 5:05:27 AM PDT by reaganaut1
More than a decade after Zimbabwe’s government began seizing sprawling white-owned commercial farms, a new fight is brewing here over who will profit from the nation’s vast bounty of platinum, chromium, nickel and diamonds.
In a move rooted in politics, the party of the aging president, Robert G. Mugabe, has begun pressuring companies operating in the country to comply with a law requiring that black Zimbabweans own more than half their shares.
Mr. Mugabe has ruled the country since its independence in 1980 but has seen his popularity recede considerably in recent years. He won fewer votes than the opposition in the 2008 election and was forced into an awkward power-sharing government in the violent aftermath.
As Mr. Mugabe pushes for new elections this year, the drive to put more wealth into the hands of black Zimbabweans is seen by allies as a politically popular path to victory.
Senior officials of Mr. Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, say that foreigners operating inside the country must not be allowed to profit at the expense of indigenous, or black, Zimbabweans.
“Am I going to assign another man to make my wife pregnant and get a child?” asked Savior Kasukuwere, the ZANU-PF minister overseeing the process known as indigenization. “Zimbabweans must be masters of their own destiny. Indigenization is a core feature of the values of our party: freedom, equality, peace.”
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, along with many independent economists and analysts, says that the law, which was passed in 2010, but only widely enforced in the last year, spells disaster for the country’s economy just as it is beginning to expand after years of withering.
“Our position is empowerment, yes,” said Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister and leader of the opposition. “But we are more concerned about the state of employment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Zimbabwe used to be the bread basket that grew food for Africa and now that Obama’s people took control of the farms they now import food.
Don’t cry for me, Rhodesia.
Black NAZIs
How do you fail on a seized farm that was producing vast quantities & is completely set up? Can people be THAT clueless????????
They seized pretty much everything that was white-owned - "sprawling" or otherwise.
"Mr. Mugabe has ruled the country since its independence in 1980..."
The NY Times has an interesting understanding of the word "independence."
Is that any worse than requiring that a certain portion of US Government contracts be given to Minority contractors?
Is it different than quotas being set here in the United States.?
Why does the media continue to refer to Zimbabwe's "independence in 1980"? The country declared its independence in 1965 and was ruled by blacks beginning in 1978.
LOL. But I guess that settles matters for their buddies over at the UN.
“How do you fail on a seized farm that was producing vast quantities & is completely set up? Can people be THAT clueless????????”
To borrow a quote from a Rhodesian web forum, “You completely underestimate the zot mindset”.
Why no! It was an eeeeeevil RAY-CIST renegade colony, before the South Africans were induced to pull their support and the Rhodesians were forced to hold elections that ZANU-PF easily stole. THEN it became “independent”.
(Strategically applied /sarc as needed.)
“Is that any worse than requiring that a certain portion of US Government contracts be given to Minority contractors? Is it different than quotas being set here in the United States.?”
You’re right; they are both criminal & immoral. We have less & less to lose if the SHTF.
This might be one reason: 
And another (from the CIA's World Fact Book):
"Unemployment rate: 95% (2009 est.) note: figures reflect underemployment; true unemployment is unknown and, under current economic conditions, unknowable" (kinda like reporting U.S. figures)
“Unemployment rate: 95% (2009 est.) note: figures reflect underemployment; true unemployment is unknown and, under current economic conditions, unknowable”
So, Whitehall, Carter, and Botha...you boys proud of yourselves now?
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