President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s threats to crack down on Indian-owned companies said to be against economic recovery have precipitated a surge of donations to the ruling Zanu PF.
Companies controlled by entrepreneurs from the vast Asian region have also joined the bandwagon to donate to the ruling party in its bid for political supremacy in the country.
A frustrated Mnangagwa veered off his soft tone to business last month, giving firms controlled by Indian business people a seven-day ultimatum to stop ‘sabotaging’ the economy when he began his 2023 election campaign, with the Zimbabwe dollar in turmoil.
He warned the firms that he would take unspecified action if they continued hoarding goods and firing up a prices rage.
Mnangagwa made the threats at his star rally at Magunje Growth Point, in Mashonaland West.
“We are being attacked, currently, Nemaprice achikwira (through price increases). Why? Just when we announced that we are going for a general election, our enemies decided to cause problems among our people, Maprices kutanga kukwira kunana Innscor (Innscor started to increase prices),” Mnangagwa said.
“I have been told today that some Indians in Harare are stocking basic goods,” he said.
In the aftermath of the President’s threats, Singaporean cooking oil producer Surface Wilmar shipped products to the ruling party.
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The government also controls 35% shareholding in Surface through the Industrial Development Corporation.
Publicly, several wholesale firms controlled by Indian entrepreneurs also moved to make their donations, while a fuel company has also donated to Zanu PF.
“These business people have been portrayed as anti-ruling party because since the start of the campaigns the majority of them did not participate in supporting the ruling party,” a Zanu PF insider told the Zimbabwe Independent.
“Zanu PF treated this as betrayal considering how Chinese businesses have played their part since the beginning of campaigns. Several Indian business people and others of Asian origin are (now) busy mobilising donations. They are taking the President’s threats seriously. This is because some of them are guilty of allegations raised by Mnangagwa,” the source added.
But in an interview with the Independent recently, Surface Wilmar chairman Narotam Somani, who is of Indian heritage, said the allegations were untrue.
He defended his peers, saying their image had been dented by look – a like Asian entrepreneurs whose transgressions are being attributed to the wrong people.
“This is an absurd and stupid thought,” Somani said.
“You are forgetting that the government owns 35% of our operations here. They are the largest shareholders. They have their directors sitting on the board of the companies. I would not like to comment on the Indian community issue, as a lot of Asians who look similar to Indians, are doing wrong trade in the country. They are not Indians or from India. The Indian ambassador (to Zimbabwe) is the right person to comment on it. For your information, the company donated only a portion and the rest was paid by the party,” Somani added.
Efforts to get a comment from the Indian Embassy in Zimbabwe were fruitless.
Mnangagwa has blamed the protracted turmoil roiling Zimbabwe’s currency on manipulation by some companies who he claims want to throw spanners into his re-election bid.
Following months of turbulences, Zimbabwe dollar volatilities have cooled off.
But experts say measures rolled out by authorities to deal with the crisis were only ad hoc. They warn that the economy remained vulnerable to fresh waves of currency battering until concrete solutions to the crisis are found.
A joint study by the Competition and Tariff Commission and National Competitiveness Commission to investigate cost drivers behind recent price hikes showed that locally produced goods occupied the largest spacein retail shops.
The inquiry accused the State of driving the collapse of the local currency.
Despite the reports, the government has on several occasions cast blame on industry and businesspeople.
The government has also accused businesses of conniving with the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change to sabotage the Zanu PF-run government ahead of this month’s elections.
