adminmidnight June 29.
Founding president of Zimbabwe Entrepreneurs Youth Action, Mr Munyaradzi Kashambe, said the elections should be held as soon as possible.
“The electorate is now confused, the arrangements that are there are supposed to be temporary, not permanent. The delaying of elections is affecting business because everyone is taking a wait and see attitude, so until the polls are done, business is going to suffer,” he said.
Affirmative Action Group Harare provincial president Mr Liberty Bizure, said many projects were failing to take off because of the disharmony in the inclusive Government.
“In a business sense, the earlier the elections, the better. We have projects that need to be done but unfortunately these are waiting for a single government so if the elections are held earlier, we can go on with our projects,” said Mr Bizure.
Zimbabweans, he said, were waiting for the full implementation of the indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes, which were being frustrated by the MDC formations.
“There is a lot of uncertainty when we talk of indigenisation because there are two schools of thought. One is Afrocentric and the second one is Eurocentric, which has a pessimistic approach towards African businesspeople.”
“The Eurocentric perception believes that only whites can handle business so we need the elections as soon as possible to implement the Afrocentric ideas without hindrance.”
Resources Exploitation Watch executive director Mr Tafadzwa Musarara, said the poll delays had seen potential investors adopting a “wait and see attitude”.
He said there were a number of business deals that have not been finalised, hence the need to hold the polls now.
“Partners from outside the country want to see the political situation in the country before joining us and they are saying that the sooner we hold the elections, the better,” Mr Musarara said.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, and Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce declined to comment.
President Mugabe has said the elections should be held by June 29 when the life of the current Parliament ends.
MDC formations want the elections to be held in September after the implementation of the so called outstanding Global Political Agreement issues.
Online Reporter