PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is planning to seize dozens of British
companies in Zimbabwe if sanctions are imposed on his government.
Sources close to Mugabe, who faces growing international condemnation
for his crackdowns on political opponents, white farmers and independent
journalists, say he is furious that foreign governments are considering
such a course of action.
A leading member of the president’s Zanu-PF party warned that he
planned to retaliate for any measures taken at Britain’s instigation —
such as a ban on travel to European Union countries and America — by
targeting the interests of thousands of Britons. According to the Southern
African Business Association, there are about 300 British companies in
Zimbabwe, with a total investment of hundreds of millions of pounds.
Some of the big players, such as Barclays bank, BP and Cadbury, are
considered too vital to the economy to be nationalised. But scores of
family businesses, many of them in tourism, could be confiscated and
distributed among Mugabe’s party faithful, the sources said.
Zanu-PF has warned repeatedly in recent months that white British
passport-holders in Zimbabwe should renounce their UK citizenship. Aides
of Mugabe say that in the event of sanctions, those who have failed to
become Zimbabwean citizens will face repercussions.
Many white farmers have already decided to comply with the measure. But
a prominent businessman in Harare said yesterday that many of the 50,000
whites still in Zimbabwe were determined to hold onto their British
passports.
“If Britain starts imposing sanctions, selective or otherwise, the
repercussions will be immediate,” said the businessman, who had been
warned of Mugabe’s plans by ministers in the president’s inner circle.
“It’ll be tit for tat. People will simply have their right to live here
taken away and they’ll lose their businesses.”
Possible measures under consideration by the EU and America include
“smart sanctions” targeted at Mugabe and his closest associates, such as
freezing bank accounts.
Debt relief measures and aid could be affected and the Commonwealth is
expected to consider calls for Zimbabwe’s suspension.
Most businessmen were silent when the threat of confiscation surfaced
in the local Financial Gazette last week.
Mugabe’s aides say the president believes the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) was created by British and western corporate
interests to break his grip on power, which will be tested by elections in
March.
Wilfred Mhanda, who leads the Zimbabwe Liberators Platform, an
association of anti- Mugabe war veterans, said a plan to grab British
business assets had existed since the early days of Mugabe’s guerilla
offensive against the Rhodesian authorities. “The idea was that we would
seize power, take all the land from the white farmers and nationalise all
white-owned businesses,” he said. “When Mugabe came to power a compromise
deal was struck, with the British paying for land reform.
“In Mugabe’s eyes, the whites have broken the agreement by encouraging
both the farm workers and urban employees to support the MDC.”
