Even the devil needs an advocate... at least in black and white...

There's a lot of noise going on in Zimbabwe and in Zimbabwean circles abroad over the promulgation of Regulations that require 51% indigenous ownership of companies... Most of the people seem to be against this... many are saying this heralds the beginning of yet another end... just as the jam was beginning to taste sweet, people are starting to lament the possibility of an end to stocked store shelves and imported goods... Maybe it's just me, but this indigenisation plan is not all bad... yes... I'm playing devil's advocate here... sue me...

To be fair over 90% of the Zim population is indigenous ... why then should they not be permitted to take ownership of companies operating within their country's borders? Yes, from a macro-economic neo-imperialistic viewpoint it makes for bad logic, but for how long must we labour under the yoke of our dependency syndrome? Honestly?

I see foreign "investors" shaking in their leather boots, getting nauseatingly uneasy in their chairs, wondering whether in two months time they will still be eating off the Zimbabwean plate as they have been doing for decades now... whether their piece of the pie will be enough to buy that little island in the Caribbean and dock some snazzy yachts to go with them... That is not all I see though... I also see money hungry and greedy indigenous businesspeople sharpening their knives... they smell the clotting blood... it is finally their time to prey on the carcass of Zimbabwe and soon they will have a huge chunk of it all to themselves...

To whose benefit have these Regulations been made really? From where I sit poor Zimbabweans continue to lose out, while their country bleeds out their wealth... The Regulations will undoubtedly curb the enthusiasm of the Chinese and the West.. but will ALL Zimbabweans benefit? The Asian Tigers are a great example of indigenisation working wonders for a country... but is this the example that my beloved country will follow? Or will it be a case of the rich getting richer...

Indigenization is not necessarily a bad thing... for Zimbabwe, it might be a case of bad timing that will see this plan falter (what with the rampant corruption and nepotism that exists), but when is the right time anyway? Shall we wait and see how this goes first before we lament yet another death of Zimbabwe? Maybe it'll work out well... maybe it won't...