Mugabe backs total black ownership of Zimbabwe firms
President Robert Mugabe on Friday demanded that all Zimbabwean companies be black owned, in a pre-election gambit that looks sure to spook foreign investors. Addressing the ZANU-PF party faithful, Mugabe said the government would press ahead with controversial indigenisation policies, despite protests from foreign investors. Mugabe lambasted any notion that economic considerations take precedence over others as "dirty, filthy" and "criminal," telling the 5,000 delegates in the central city of Gweru that the current mandatory black ownership rate of 51 percent should be increased. His government passed a controversial indigenisation law two years ago, arguing that it would reverse imbalances created during colonial rule. "I think now we have done enough of 51 percent. Let it be a 100 percent," he told the last party conference before 2013 polls, which could well see the 88-year-old's name on the ballot for the last time. "Even (to) our Chinese friends, we are saying no," the Zimbabwean president declared at a $6.5 million conference centre recently built by Beijing. "You have to accept our rules," he emphasised, before adding: "We will develop ourselves, our own ways of undertaking the operations that yield wealth." In typically bombastic style, Mugabe's plotted a clear populist platform for his re-election campaign. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF face an uphill struggle to win over voters, many of whom are angered at the poor state of the economy. University of Zimbabwe professor Anthony Hawkins said Mugabe's pronouncement was an effort to win votes. "I don't think its practical. It is just sloganeering at the party conference to woo supporters ahead of elections," he told AFP. ZANU-PF must also patch up the damage done by internal splits that cost it dearly in the 2008 general elections. In that election, for the first time since independence in 1980, ZANU-PF lost its majority in parliament. That helped force Mugabe into a shaky power-sharing government with long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to stop a wave of violence around the disputed 2008 vote and halt an economic tailspin. In his address, Mugabe also complained that corruption was destroying his party. "There is a lot of indiscipline taking place," he said. "Let's have a clean party." He said some of his officials were soliciting kickbacks from investors who want to invest in the country. "If I get information which mentions that so and so minister is doing that, he goes immediately," he said to cheers from supporters. ZANU-PF officials clad in party regalia emblazoned with Mugabe's picture sang songs and danced in praise of the veteran leader, while denouncing the Movement for Democratic Change led by Tsvangirai. Others wore Mugabe's clothing label with his signature on hats, shirts, and berets. Amid doubts about when the elections will actually take place, Mugabe pressed for them to go ahead as soon as possible, saying: "We cannot dilly-dally anymore, enough is enough." The southern African country is to hold a referendum, followed by elections next year, though no dates have been set. The opposition and international community insist meanwhile that fair elections cannot take place until the constitution has been amended.