President Robert Mugabes government introduced a bill on Thursday to give Zimbabweans majority ownership of foreign companies, a move critics say will make the Southern African nations economic crisis even deeper.
If passed, it would give the government sweeping powers over how foreign companies, including mines, operate in Zimbabwe. The draft was passed to a parliamentary legal committee shortly after it was introduced. It is likely to pass because Mugabes ZANU-PF party dominates parliament.
The UN World Food Program reckons that 4 million Zimbabweans – about one-third of the population – will need food aid by next year. This years harvest of maize, the local staple, was meager.
Rains have been poor, and the governments disastrous land-reform program has turned once flourishing commercial farming into subsistence agriculture.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
