Iden Wetherell in Harare
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe this week led a high-powered team to London to drum up investment in Zimbabwe’s faltering economy.
Government sources in Harare have been upbeat about the interest shown by British companies. But it remains to be seen whether this will translate into money and jobs.
Investment is vital to soak up the growing army of unemployed – swelling by 250 000 a year. But Zimbabwe’s leadership has been sending mixed signals on whether it really wants foreign participation.
In many respects things are looking up. Reserve Bank governor Leonard Tsumba has forecast 4,9% growth this year. But while a good agricultural season has buoyed optimism, manufacturing output remains sluggish.
Mugabe is accompanied by eight Cabinet ministers and leading industrialists. They claimed at Wednesday’s conference Zimbabwe had undergone major transformation from a command to a market-driven economy.
But the problem in London remains one of perception as businessmen challenged Mugabe on fundamentals.
In recent interviews Mugabe has spoken of former colonisers coming back in through “the economic door”.
His ambiguous stance has caused confusion, said Thami Mazwai, editor-in-chief of South Africa’s Enterprise magazine, when he was in Zimbabwe recently.
“If he is addressing overseas investors he is committed to the market economy. If he addresses peasants in the rural areas he becomes a Marxist-Leninist … He is trying to be everything to everybody.”
The government’s approach to black empowerment has not helped. A marked absence of transparency has seen tender procedures ignored and well-connected individuals benefiting in large government contracts.
While Britain remains Zimbabwe’s largest investor, with 300 companies injecting over R3-billion, other countries in the region provide a friendlier climate, better incentives and more transparency.
“To instil confidence among foreign investors the government has to follow the greatest possible transparency as far as awarding of tenders and contracts is concerned,” said British high commissioner Martin Williams anticipating where the major problem lies.
Mugabe replied in London that he had never changed tenders to suit members of his family, including his ambitious nephew Leo Mugabe whose name has been linked to the new Harare airport project.