Seemingly without bearing any grudges, Albrecht Conze, German’s outgoing envoy, says he has neither heard from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the police.Before the attack, Conze had written a scathing article, likening Zimbabwe to Cold War Berlin, drawing the ire of Nathaniel Manheru, a columnist at The Herald, believed to be President Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba.
While relations between the two countries have always been frosty, Conze’s stay was always eventful, with the government probably not sure how to handle him.Often he was lauded for speaking out against sanctions, or restrictive measures, on Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, while he was equally at the receiving end of stinging rebuke for criticising the government.
True to what had become his hallmark during much of his two-year stay in Harare, he held out an olive branch, while at the same time pulling no punches on what he regarded as bad governance in the country.
“I hope I have contributed to changing Zimbabwe’s image in Germany due to the scope of bad news that hit the world since the year 2000 when you held the referendum,” he said.
Conze reckons that the bad news had seen Zimbabwe being dumped into the same category with the Democratic Republic of Congo as a basket case, failed and rogue state, an uwarranted tag, he says.
“I think this is an insult to Zimbabwe to be equated with a huge country (DRC) which is a failed state,” he said. “Zimbabwe is totally different, but the perception was that of a country totally in the doldrums.”
Conze said there was a change of policy towards Zimbabwe from his country and there had been an influx of German business players that were interested in the country.
He cited a US$700 million loan being dangled by Germany’s second largest bank, Commerzbank as a sign that his country was open to doing business with Zimbabwe. But he doubted whether the country would go ahead with its controversial indigenisation programme, arguing that this might not be in the best interest of Zimbabwe.
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“Fortunately, they (German businesspeople) are not taking it (indigenisation) too seriously, they probably know it’s a propaganda gimmick that will go away like the bad weather,” he said.
“They are probably attracted by the fact that Zimbabwe has the most educated middle class in Africa and secondly that Zimbabwe still has well-working infrastructure.”
Under indigenisation laws, foreign firms are required to cede 51% to locals, a move analysts say will contribute to the flight of foreign capital and lead to disinvestment.
As a parting shot, he said if the country’s politics stayed out of the way, the economy was going to rebound and in seven years, Zimbabwe would not be needing any support from anyone and would in actual fact be in a position to bail out other African countries.
