Seeking Southern African Regional Aid, Harare Drafts Economic Plan
The Southern African Development Community has asked Harare for a plan to help it decide how to dispense aid to revive the economy whil
Zimbabwe's Ministry of Economic Development is coming up with a new strategy to rescue the economy, and hoping to wrest policy-making power back from the Joint Operations Command, a military-led committee, and various ad hoc task forces. Ministry Permanent Secretary Judith Kateera told parliamentarians, governors and traditional chiefs Wednesday that the new five-year economic development strategy aims to reduce poverty and bring marginalized groups into the mainstream. But opposition members and economists voiced skepticism the policy can succeed. Sources in the economics ministry said the Joint Operations Command, which unites the military, the Central Intelligence Organization and other security forces, opposes the plan, preferring more populist measures like the price-cutting drive launched several months ago with disastrous effects as store shelves were emptied. But the deepening crisis and regional pressure have weakened its hand, sources said. The Southern African Development Community has asked for an economic plan so it can decide how best to help economically while promoting a political solution. Meanwhile, an "indigenization" and empowerment bill that would allow the government to take a 51% stake in all white-owned business awaits only the signature of President Robert Mugabe to become the law of the land, despite warnings it is a mistake. Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Minister Paul Mangwana said any white Zimbabwean who owns a business, even if it was established after independence in 1980, must prove that he or she is indigenous and was victimized by colonialism. Critics of the legislation, tabled in June, say it has moved at a “dangerously fast pace.” The ruling party wields a two-thirds majority in the lower house.