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THE indigenisation and economic empowerment programme formed the basis of Zanu-PF’s re-election campaign. Together with many other positive factors that make the revolutionary party the only political formation in Zimbabwe worth voting for, the highly popular indigenisation and economic empowerment policy won the election most resoundingly for Zanu-PF.
It was the central part of the party’s 31 July election manifesto, whose theme was “Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment” and the slogan was “Bhora Mugedhi/Ibhola Egedini.” Zanu-PF won more than two thirds majority in Parliament, with its presidential candidate, President Mugabe, defeating his nearest rival, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T after he garnered 61 percent of the vote. Now Zanu-PF is in charge of government, without the encumbrances that both MDC formations posed during the era of the inclusive government.
Having won the election so emphatically on promises to indigenise the economy, the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme is naturally set to dominate government work in the next five years.
Officially opening the First Session of the Eighth Parliament of Zimbabwe, President Mugabe said: “Implementation of the country’s Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment laws is to be pursued with renewed vigour. This is in order to ensure that our people become significant stakeholders and not mere bystanders in the running of the national economy. To this end, the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund will be capitalised so as to give impetus to the implementation process. Government should mainstream indigenisation and empowerment programmes. Indigenisation and Empowerment legislation will be reviewed and strengthened during this session. In addition, a monitoring and evaluation mechanism will be put in place to ensure the proper management of Community Share Ownership Trusts.”
That is the natural course of action to take. So the new Cabinet that he appointed recently, would discharge its duties mindful of the fact that the central theme of action from this year until 2018 would be indigenisation and economic empowerment.
In its manifesto, Zanu-PF highlighted that the indigenisation and economic empowerment was the only viable vehicle to achieving sustainable national development.
According to the Zanu-PF 2013 election manifesto, there are four pillars of the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme which are the founding ideology, the law, the policy and the beneficiaries. Ideology is concerned with the need for indigenous blacks to exercise total independence and sovereignty over their resources while the law looks at enabling legislation and relevant clauses of the constitution. The policy looks at implementation and beneficiaries are the communities that derive benefits from the programme.
The 108-page document says under Zanu-PF leadership, Zimbabwe has become one of the most deeply indigenised and empowered countries in the developed world. “There is no alternative (to indigenisation and economic empowerment),” it says. “Therefore, Zanu-PF will unapologetically intensify the implementation of this programme over the next five years in order to meet the goals of the people.”
Opportunities arising from economic empowerment have widened and deepened since independence as a direct result of Zanu-PF’s “pro-people policies such as the hugely successful land reform programme which is now widely acknowledged as a major source of economic prosperity for the country,” the manifesto reads in part.
“Zanu-PF’s empowerment policies have not been diminished by the daunting challenges that have come in the way over the last decade such as the illegal economic sanctions and the illegal regime change machinations of the British government and its allies in the EU, US and the white Commonwealth. Thanks to the leadership of Zanu-PF, the people’s responses to these challenges have been gallantly exemplary. Against this backdrop, this people’s manifesto for the 2013 harmonised elections explains why an overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans are voting for Zanu-PF.”
The manifesto says the revolutionary party has indigenised 12 million hectares of land. Zanu-PF would, in the next five years, also seek to create value of $7,3 billion from the indigenisation of 1 138 companies across 14 key sectors of the economy if it secures victory in the elections.
These initiatives would create 2,265 million jobs across key sectors of the economy and contribute to export earnings, food security and to the fiscus among many other benefits including urban housing, and construction of peri-urban farms acquired during the land reform exercise. The party’s indigenisation and empowerment initiatives have potential to see an average Gross Domestic Product growth rate of nine percent by 2018 up from the current 4,4 percent. The indigenisation programme would also unlock as much as $2 trillion in the economy.
According to the party policy document, independence empowered the country to reclaim land. Now that State power was being used to extend land ownership to 14 key sectors of the economy that are still controlled by foreigners. The existing racial ownership structure of the economy is a direct consequence of colonialism, it adds.
The ideological thrust to indigenise the economy, the party says, is not arbitrary but is based on the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act (Chapter 14:33) as read with relevant regulations released in 2010. The Act says foreign-owned companies must sell 51 percent of their shares to indigenous blacks. None of the 14 key sectors of the economy is exempt from the indigenisation law, the party says. Even the banking sector, whose indigenisation was at some point contentious between the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, is covered by sections 5 (1) (b) of the relevant piece of legislation.
It adds that while the law is clear that at least 51 percent of the ownership of foreign-owned companies should be indigenous-owned, there has been some confusion on how the threshold would be achieved. To address this, the revolutionary party says the law would need to be reviewed to clarify that locals cannot be expected to buy back their natural resources.
Online Reporter