President Robert Mugabe has defended a law requiring Zimbabwean businesses to be controlled by blacks, underlining differences with his governing partners.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has said the law was unworkable and would discourage investment.
The law, passed by parliament when it was still dominated by Mugabe’s legislators in 2008, is set to go into effect on March 1.
Tsvangirai has said the law is “null and void”.
Ideological differences, and what Tsvangirai’s party and rights watchdogs call Mugabe’s unwillingness to share real power, have bedeviled the coalition that took office in February last year.
“We differ ideologically, but we say let the people of the country own what is rightfully theirs,” Mugabe said on TV on Saturday in an interview marking his 86th birthday, which was yesterday.
In the interview, Mugabe demanded that the MDC campaign for sanctions to be lifted.
Earlier this month, the European Union said its targeted sanctions would remain in place for another year because of lack of progress by the unity government.
On Friday, the International Monetary Fund restored the country’s voting rights after a seven-year suspension over failure to pay 1,3bn it owes the organisation and other creditors.
Source: www.businessday.co.za, 20100222
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