Zimbabwe's Ruling Party Plans to Transform Economy by Transferring more Wealth to Citizens

The ruling party in Zimbabwe said it plans to transform the economy by transferring more wealth to its citizens. Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front will boost the economy through its policies of indigenization and economic empowerment, ZANU-PF officials revealed.

“Over the next five years, Zimbabwe is going to witness a unique wealth-transfer model that will see ordinary people take charge of their economy,” it said. “The people of Zimbabwe have given President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF a clear mandate to transform the economy through indigenization and economic empowerment.”

Robert Mugabe recently won the just concluded election which his rival Morgan Tsvangirai described as a 'huge farce' and 'null and void'. Many wondered how Mugabe could have won again though Western nations and Botswana are in doubt of his victory but his victory is hinged on the fact that he has created a niche for Tsvangirai as a western tool.

Mugabe with his appellation of Tsvangirai will always defeat him because Zimbabweans are scared of losing their lands again not when they can remember the notorious Ian Smith Rhodesia regime and the White supremacists. Mugabe received the applause of meaningful African leaders from Nigeria to South Africa much to the chagrin of his rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mugabe, 89, extended his 33-year rule of the Southern African nation with 61 percent of the vote in the July 31 election and his party secured a two-thirds majority in parliament. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who won 34 percent, called on the African Union and the 15-nation Southern African Development Community to back his demand for a rerun.

With its indigenization policy, Mugabe and ZANU-PF have forced mining companies such as Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP) and Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS) to cede majority stakes in their local assets to black Zimbabweans or the government. The Southern African nation has the world’s second-biggest platinum and chrome reserves, as well as diamond, gold and coal deposits.

Tsvangirai had promised to repeal the indigenization measure. Mugabe has also redistributed majority of the lands which were held by the minutest white population. This was the beginning of his fisticuffs with the West who wanted the status quo just as it is in Namibia where the Black population has no say on the economy as well as in South Africa where almost the entire wealth is concentrated in the hands of the whites.

Zimbabwe should postpone its election; Southern African leaders urge Mugabe, discuss Madagascar

The summit of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, came two days after Mugabe declared the election day, a date immediately rejected by Tsvangirai, his partner in coalition and main political rival.

The bloc leaders told Zimbabwe to ask its courts to extend a July 31 deadline to hold elections, amid high tension between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over the timing of the vote.

The argument of Mugabe was that he was following an order from the Constitutional Court to hold the election by the end of July which sounds more like an excuse of convenience. Tsvangirai said it was too soon to allow the reforms of the media and security forces required for a free and fair vote.

"The summit acknowledged the ruling of the constitutional court on the election date and it will be respected," Tomaz Salomao, Secretary General of SADC, said after the one-day meeting.

"What the summit recommended was, in recognising that there was a need for more time, that the government of Zimbabwe engage the constitutional court to ask for more time beyond the deadline of July 31." SADC leaders had earlier feared that hurrying the elections would increase the chances of a disputed result and violence.

In 2008 hundreds of Zimbabweans, mostly Tsvangirai's supporters, were beaten and killed, creating a flood of refugees into neighboring countries. Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is also secretary general of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, said SADC had "ordered a return to constitutionalism".

"We Zimbabweans want an election yesterday. However, it must be legitimate and credible," Biti said. The SADC summit, postponed by a week at Mugabe's request, had also been expected to discuss finance for the elections, expected to cost the cash-strapped country $132 million. The funding was not debated during the summit.

Madagascar was also discussed as wife of the former President, Marc Ravalomanana, ousted by Disc Jockey-turned-politician - Andriy Rajolina - said she will not step down. Rajolina rejoined the race when she decided to contest. Calls have also been made for Rajolina to step down by the African Union.

Foreign donors froze budget support and the Indian Ocean island was suspended from the African Union. Succumbing to regional pressure, both men agreed in January not to run in a presidential election in August.

Rajolina was assisted by the military to oust Ravalomanana in 2009. The wife of Ravalomanana said her husband's supporters want her and her mission is to end the food crisis in the country while her husband takes care of the business of the family.

The summit said there was need for international political and diplomatic pressure for "illegitimate presidential candidates to withdraw their candidatures for the sake of peace and stability in Madagascar". France also threatened not to recognise the election.