OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Monday 4.00pm.
ZIMBABWE’S worsening political turmoil is having an alarming impact on business confidence in South Africa, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said on Monday.
“All indications are that business confidence in South Africa is dropping at an alarming rate,” Sacob head Kevin Wakeford said.
He was speaking from Harare during a visit with other South African business leaders aimed at seeking solutions to the country’s land ownership crisis, in which 14 people are known to have died.
They arrived in Zimbabwe on Monday to offer help the troubled country’s economic problems and to plead for the rule of law.
The three-day mission, led by Sacob, will include meetings with Zimbabwean government officials and business leaders.
“We’re trying to get a bird’s-eye view of what exactly the trading problems are on the ground in Zimbabwe,” Wakeford said.
“As businessmen committed to Africa, we will be trying, hopefully together with Zimbabwean business, to make some form of proposals to the government in Zimbabwe as to what potential solutions could be,” he said.
The group’s arrival coincided with the decision by workers in Zimbabwe to cancel May Day festivities amid fears of violence linked to the political crisis sweeping the southern African country.
The delegation is due to meet leaders in business, industry and tourism, as well as with officials in the agriculture, commerce and industry ministries, said Wakeford.
“We’re also here to convey a very clear message as to our position on the issues of the rule of law and property rights, which are non-negotiable principles,” he added.
“We agree that there is a land reform need, but it should not threaten the property rights.”
The delegation is due to leave Zimbabwe Thursday.
Self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war have invaded hundreds of commercial white-owned farms in the past few weeks, and President Robert Mugabe has said he will invoke special powers to allow the forced transfer of land to blacks.
Economists have warned of a possible meltdown in Zimbabwe’s economy, which relies heavily on agriculture, and South African markets have been hit hard by fears the crisis could spread.
Last week, the South African rand dropped to a record low of 6.87 to the dollar as offshore investors dumped the currency.
According to the Sacob, whose mission to Zimbabwe is backed by the South African government, the Zimbabwean economic crisis and political tensions are increasingly damaging confidence in the South African economy.
“In South Africa the rand is badly hurt, the bond market is hurt, the business mood is dampened,” Wakeford said. — AFP, Reuters
April
Link to the day
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
30