President Robert Mugabe today said there will be no exception to the 51 -49 percent indigenisation rule with locals controlling 51 percent of the stake of any business venture. Speaking at Heroes Acre at the burial of Brigadier Misheck Tanyanyiwa, Mugabe said there will be no going back on the promises that his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front made to the electorate in the run-up to the 31 July elections. Mugabe and his party romped to victory on the promises of consolidated land reform and empowering the people through indigenisation. People voted for ZANU-PF because they wanted their issues to be addressed, Mugabe said and for the legislators to become chiefs. “Let us not spoil the vote of July 31. It was a people’s vote for their country they did not vote for us to be MPs or because they wanted you to be more important than them. Aiwa. They voted for us as MPs so that you could go and fight for them in Parliament, fight for their rights, fight for their country, fight against sanctions, fight for the defence of their country that is why they voted for you not for you to wear a big hat and say aah ndavashe zvino, no,” Mugabe said. “You must remain a humble beggar who went to the people to beg for their vote and the people said yes we will make you an MP provided you are going to fight for us. Here are the things that you should fight for, there is a Zim-Asset, there are ideas, the principles you should fight for first and foremost Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. It is a liberated country, it is your country and we must defend it. Take the resources that we have in Zimbabwe which lie under the earth or above the earth, they belong to us and they must not be exploited by outsiders. We will invite our friends provided they come to assist not to be masters over us. No, that is why we say 51 and 49 (percent) hapana exception.” There have been increasing media reports that Mugabe might soften on indigenisation to attract investment. Mugabe’s statement also scuttled Mines Minister Walter Chidakwa’s sentiment that the government might review the rules if platinum companies built a refinery in the country.
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