PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s renewed threats on British and American firms operating in the country over the West-imposed sanctions will derail the country’s economic revival prospects, analysts have said.
REPORT BY EVERSON MUSHAVA
His commments come at a time when the economy had stabilised in the last four years.
Mugabe made a scathing attack on Sunday afternoon in Harare before he went to Victoria Falls to address a tourism conference being co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia where a number of foreign countries are in attendance.
“Our attitude is not going to continue to be what it was in the past — passive. We have had enough. They should not continue to harass us, the British and Americans,” Mugabe told mourners at the burial of former National Railways boss Mike Karakadzai in Harare on Sunday.
British banks Standard Chartered and Barclays have been the target of Mugabe’s indigenisation programme.
Economic analyst John Robertson said such threats against foreign-owned firms would further damage investor confidence which is already at its very low.
“Attacking business is not the best thing to do,” Robertson said.
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“Business people are not politicians. Political disputes between countries should be solved at political level, and should not affect business. This discourages new business players from not only the West, but the world over.”
He said sanctions against Mugabe’s regime were never imposed by the business world and that the matter could have been resolved between countries at political level.
Economic analyst Eric Block said Zimbabwe’s economic situation could deteriorate in the wake of such threats to the business community.
He said it was now difficult to trust Mugabe after he gave contradictory statements on foreign investment.
Mugabe last Thursday said he would use diplomacy to re-engage with the rest of the world, but made an about turn and launched a tirade against the West and threatened British companies operating in the country.
“He is contradicting himself and it will be difficult for business community to trust him,” Block said. “He has destroyed investor confidence in the past and now it is worse.”
