Though communities stand to benefit from the largesse extorted from mines, there is something blatantly wrong in the manner in which the programme is being carried out.
Firstly, the empowerment regulations have been adopted without any consensus in the inclusive government. The MDC-T announced on Friday that it is planning to launch its rival plan that focuses on growing businesses first to create jobs than wrestling 51% ownership from existing shareholders.
The party’s announcement exposed the programme for what it is: a Zanu PF campaign project. Hiding behind a banner of empowering indigenous Zimbabweans, President Mugabe and his Zanu PF party are clearly playing politics with a matter that has a serious bearing on Zimbabwe’s economy.
After running down the economy following years of mismanagement, Mugabe is desperate for something to offer a restive electorate that has gravitated over the years to support the MDC-T led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in protest against his ruinous policies.
The veteran politician knows he needs something new, something that would entice villagers to vote for him and members of Zanu PF in parliamentary and local elections.
So forcing companies to surrender their shareholding to the so-called community share ownership trusts and to part with US$10 million, as in the case of Zimplats, is one way Mugabe can energise his supporters, among them war veterans, who stand to gain the most.
If one considers the number of mines dotted around the country, Zanu PF’s game plan becomes clearer for all to see: suddenly the bankrupt party has something new to offer thousands of people staying in areas where the mines operate.
Many of these people, ironically impoverished by years of Mugabe’s rule, may begin to see the 87-year-old president in new light, as their saviour. This is the same trick that Mugabe used when he encouraged invasions of white-owned commercial farms over a decade ago. Zimbabweans must be wary of such projects.
