We Are Masters of Our Resources, Says Zimbabwe President Mugabe

President Mugabe is helped by Vice-President Mujuru to receive a gift from Mwana Africa’s Chief Executive Mr Kalaa Mpinga while Youth Development, Indigenisation, and Economic Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere looks on at the Bindura Community., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

We are masters of our resources: President

Saturday, 10 November 2012 21:16
Kuda Bwititi in Bindura
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail

Foreign companies are welcome to invest in the country but they should not use their capital to grab total control of mineral wealth as Zimbabweans remain masters of their own resources, President Mugabe has said.

Speaking during the launch of the Mashonaland Central Community Share Ownership Trust here yesterday, President Mugabe, who is also the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, said investors should understand that local resources belong primarily to Zimbabweans.

“There has to be the good understanding that Zimbabwe’s resources belong primarily to Zimbabweans. Those who provide capital should understand that the master in Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwean,” he said.

President Mugabe castigated investors who believe that their fat pockets give them the right to call the shots in Zimbabwe.

“They think the fact that they have capital gives them the right to own our resources. No! It only gives them the privilege to partner with us. We want you to form partnerships with foreign companies at 51 to 49 percent . . . even partnerships with our African colleagues, we have no objection at all with such partnerships provided that they understand our policies,” he said.

President Mugabe urged locals to ensure that they get their fair share of the country’s wealth cake and should be wary of supping with the devil. “Mai Mujuru, ngatichenjerei . . . kana Satan akati ngatidye tese, itai zi-spoon rinobva kuno nekoko yokumba share yako. (You need a long spoon to eat supper with the devil),” he remarked.

President Mugabe said contrary to western views, Zimbabwe has not nationalised its economy, noting that such talk was part of the relentless propaganda that paints him as a dic­tator.

“We have never nationalised any­thing since independence despite all the talk about Mugabe being a dicta­tor and all the dirt and filth that has been said about Mugabe. We are not dirty and filthy.

“The only dirt and filth has come from sanctions that the west imposed on us, yet we never recipro­cated,” he said.

President Mugabe said despite the sanctions and the hostile treatment that the country had received from the West, Zimbabwe would not reciprocate.

He said Zimbabwe had long shown willingness to reconcile by forgiving former Rhodesian leader Ian Smith, despite his brutal reign.

“Dai mhosva dzaSmith dzaiiswa mumasaga, dai aive nematonnes, ne matonnes emhosva (Smith commit­ted so many crimes against us) but we never did anything to him . . . He died on his own and he even chose to be cre­mated,” he said.