Tsvangirai dismiss Zanu-PF led assets grab

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed Zanu-PF led indigenisation plans for banks and other key sectors, in a move set to deepen cracks in the troubled inclusive government.

Saviour Kasukuwere, the indigenisation minister, last week gazetted a notice announcing that all foreign-owned banks and other sectors including privately-owned educational institutions would be grabbed in line with the controversial indigenisation laws.

But the MDC-T leader - Tsvangirai - dismissed the announcement, saying in a statement on Tuesday that "there is no such government position because no such issue has been discussed and agreed upon by cabinet."

He said government had not sanctioned Kasukuwere's actions, which were "a threat to investment in the country".

"The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act does not empower the minister to act and to project an image of a voracious government keen to compulsorily grab almost all institutions and companies in the country."

Zimbabwe's indigenisation programme initially targeted mines, but is now a blanket plan over all sectors of the economy covering schools, finance, tourism, arts and entertainment, engineering and construction, telecommunications and the motor industry.

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