Zimbabwe prime minister says ‘poisonous politics’ are scaring away investors

Zimbabwe prime minister says ‘poisonous politics’ are scaring away investors http://www.washingtonpost.com By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, April 26, 2:06 AM HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s prime minister said Wednesday that the nation’s “bad and poisonous politics” have held back recovery and investment in the troubled economy. Morgan Tsvangirai said the three-year coalition government “has bickered more than it has collaborated” to spur economic growth. He also is a sharp critic of a zealous black empowerment program by President Robert Mugabe’s party. Mugabe’s party has vowed to seize 51 percent control for blacks of foreign and white-owned businesses. Tsvangirai, visiting a trade exposition in the second city of Bulawayo, said discord and “toxic” policies over the control of businesses frightened off investors willing to rebuild collapsed industries and power and other utilities. A decade of economic meltdown followed seizures of thousands of white-owned farms. Tsvangirai said traveling across the country was “a sorry sight — closed factories, old equipment, retrenched workers and ghost towns have been the story of Zimbabwe.” He said his party opposes any policies that lead to job losses and send the wrong message to potential investors. He wanted benefits to go to all Zimbabweans through improved business confidence and direct foreign investment. He said he wanted “machinations” by a minority in taking over foreign firms to end. “The basis for establishing international confidence in our economy is sound economic management,” Tsvangirai told business leaders in Bulawayo. Mugabe’s party insists the black empowerment program — and farm seizures that saw prime properties handed out to loyalists and cronies that still lie idle — is to correct colonial-era imbalances in the ownership of land, minerals and natural resources. Zimbabwe is a former regional breadbasket that now is heavily indebted and depends on food imports. In Bulawayo alone, once the nation’s industrial heartland of steel, engineering and railroad plants, 80 large businesses have recently closed down with the loss of at least 20,000 jobs, Tsvangirai said. Tsvangirai said economic reconstruction needs to be underpinned by peace and stability, a return to the rule of law and the protection of property ownership rights. He acknowledged his party lacks powers in the coalition to implement its visions for development and renewal of the country’s former status as a jewel of the region envied by many. Mugabe has called for elections this year to end the coalition. “Only a legitimately elected government and not a coalition ... can deal with the massive unemployment and poverty that Zimbabwe currently faces, “ Tsvangirai said.