| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
27 May 2007 12:54:13 AM |
| Object: |
Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms |
Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms
By Stephen Bevan in Pretoria and Michael Gwarizo in Harare,
Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:34am BST 27/05/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/27/wzim27.xml
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe plans to seize majority stakes in
all the country's foreign-owned businesses in what economists warn
could be a repeat of the regime's disastrous land reform policy.
BP is among the companies threatened by government plans to take
control of foreign-owned businesses
Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, all companies
will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their shares for
allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous" Zimbabweans.
There are signs that the government intends to use the laws to attack
the commercial interests of countries such as Britain, the former
colonial ruler, which Mugabe accuses of plotting to remove him from
power. However, companies linked with friendly regimes, such as China
and Malaysia, will be protected.
The hit list might include British banks such as Standard Chartered
and Barclays. A minister told The Sunday Telegraph that the banks were
seen as having "sabotaged" Mugabe's land reform programme by refusing
to extend financial support to black farmers.
"The president made it clear, when cabinet approved the Bill to be
tabled before parliament, that the time had come to empower our
people.
"He said the indigenisation exercise must be undertaken in the same
fashion as the land reform programme."
The minister added that Mugabe had vowed that "imperialist companies"
would be targeted as they had been operating with what the president
described as a "sinister, regime-change agenda."
Standard Chartered, which has 26 offices employing 900 people in
Zimbabwe, declined to comment. A spokesman for Barclays, which has 29
branches and more than 1,000 staff in the country, said: "We are
currently assessing the potential impact of the proposed legislation
on our business in Zimbabwe. It is early days and the proposed Bill
may not become law."
Other British companies likely to be targeted are BP, which has 37
service stations in Zimbabwe, British American Tobacco and Unilever -
which is listed in both the UK and Holland.
The proposed new law would give black -Zimbabweans controlling stakes
in foreign companies and allow them to appoint their own managers.
They would also be able to set pricing policy - a sensitive issue in a
country battling with the highest inflation in the world, currently
exceeding 3,700 per cent.
Paul Mangwana, the minister for "indigenisation and empowerment", said
the legislation, which is now before parliament, would affect all
sectors of the economy from banking to manufacturing. He added that
companies would be "free to look for partners who are black", but that
government would "make suggestions" if they could not find any. "The
objective is to ensure that black Zimbabweans take control of the
economy and the resources of their country," he said. Mr Mangwana said
a special fund would be created to help "indigenous" investors pay for
their stakes.
However, with the economy in free fall and the government desperately
short of foreign currency, there is little prospect that the companies
will ever receive the money.
As with the land reform programme, many in business suspect the real
beneficiaries of the asset grab will be Mugabe's cronies and officials
of the ruling Zanu PF party, who will take control of the companies
under the guise of business consortiums.
"Mugabe operates on patronage, and to try to bolster his position he
will hand over these companies to people who support him. He's been
threatening it for a long time," said an executive with a major
British firm.
While many British interests are threatened, people close to the
businessman Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, who is an ally of Mugabe, said
that they believed that he would be spared. The British tycoon, whose
farm in Zimbabwe was exempted from seizure in recognition of his
financial support for Zanu PF, has stakes in NMB Bank, the Hwange
Colliery and hotel company Rainbow Tourism Group.
With the country in crisis following the government's seizure of
white-owned farms and the resulting collapse of commercial
agriculture, economists warn that the new asset grab could be the
final straw. One independent Harare economist, John Robertson, said
the legislation would be a major blow to the country's manufacturing
industry, which once accounted for 25 per cent of GDP but has shrunk
to 15 per cent. "Nearly all the big commercial firms are already owned
by Zimbabweans, but a number of the manufacturing operations are still
owned by foreigners - some of them by the big multinationals like
Unilever and Nestlé," he said. "I imagine some of these would close
down, rather than relinquish control."
Mr Mangwana said he was not concerned that foreign companies might
pull out.
He denied that British or American firms would be specifically
targeted, saying the government was "not that petty".
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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| User: "Adam Whyte-Settlar" |
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| Title: Re: Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms |
27 May 2007 01:52:39 AM |
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"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> wrote in message
news:hs6i53lf9qs9s20dj97rj8pvkp6aiv12dg@4ax.com...
Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms
By Stephen Bevan in Pretoria and Michael Gwarizo in Harare,
Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:34am BST 27/05/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/27/wzim27.xml
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe plans to seize majority stakes in
all the country's foreign-owned businesses in what economists warn
could be a repeat of the regime's disastrous land reform policy.
BP is among the companies threatened by government plans to take
control of foreign-owned businesses
YESS! That's it! - he's a DEAD MAN at last.
I wondered how much longer it would be before he made a fatal mistake.
It's about time he stopped a bullet.
Not long now.
.
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| User: "Captain Compassion" |
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| Title: Re: Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms |
27 May 2007 11:07:51 AM |
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On Sun, 27 May 2007 16:52:39 +1000, "Adam Whyte-Settlar"
<grawillers@westnet.com.au> wrote:
"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> wrote in message
news:hs6i53lf9qs9s20dj97rj8pvkp6aiv12dg@4ax.com...
Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms
By Stephen Bevan in Pretoria and Michael Gwarizo in Harare,
Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:34am BST 27/05/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/27/wzim27.xml
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe plans to seize majority stakes in
all the country's foreign-owned businesses in what economists warn
could be a repeat of the regime's disastrous land reform policy.
BP is among the companies threatened by government plans to take
control of foreign-owned businesses
YESS! That's it! - he's a DEAD MAN at last.
I wondered how much longer it would be before he made a fatal mistake.
It's about time he stopped a bullet.
Not long now.
You can never redistribute wealth only poverty. Because of the natural
inequities of man and the nature of wealth it is impossible for all
men to be rich. It is possible for all men to be poor. Just ask any
Socialist they can tell you how. -- Captain Compassion
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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| User: "Phlip" |
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| Title: Re: Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms |
27 May 2007 09:05:51 AM |
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Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, all companies
will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their shares for
allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous" Zimbabweans.
How dare he try to fix colonialism!?
--
Phlip
http://flea.sourceforge.net/PiglegToo_1.html
.
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| User: "Captain Compassion" |
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| Title: Re: Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms |
27 May 2007 01:17:31 PM |
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On Sun, 27 May 2007 14:05:51 GMT, "Phlip" <phlipcpp@yahoo.com> wrote:
Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, all companies
will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their shares for
allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous" Zimbabweans.
How dare he try to fix colonialism!?
And thus the weak minded tyrant justifies theft.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
|
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| User: "Phlip" |
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| Title: Re: Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms |
27 May 2007 01:28:53 PM |
|
|
Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, all companies
will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their shares for
allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous" Zimbabweans.
How dare he try to fix colonialism!?
And thus the weak minded tyrant justifies theft.
Uh, who stole from who there?
--
Phlip
http://flea.sourceforge.net/PiglegToo_1.html
.
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| User: "Captain Compassion" |
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| Title: Re: Mugabe plots to seize 'imperialist' British firms |
27 May 2007 01:38:55 PM |
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On Sun, 27 May 2007 18:28:53 GMT, "Phlip" <phlipcpp@yahoo.com> wrote:
Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, all companies
will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their shares for
allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous" Zimbabweans.
How dare he try to fix colonialism!?
And thus the weak minded tyrant justifies theft.
Uh, who stole from who there?
Name one corporate officer, employee or stockholder who stole from the
government of Zimbabwe?
Don't you justify theft with theft?
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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