Mugabe calls for investment in Zimbabwe, says property rights will be respected

President Mugabe calls for investment in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe told businessmen Wednesday that their potential investments in Zimbabwe would be safe, while the finance minister announced the country is $5.7 billion in debt.

Mugabe, opening a two-day meeting on investment in the once vibrant mining industry, said that Zimbabwe’s unity government has made “satisfactory progress” in creating a conducive environment for investment.

“The sanctity of property rights and the rule of law in all its dimensions are fully respected,” Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown began after Mugabe ordered the seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms in 2000, disrupting the agriculture-based economy in the former regional breadbasket.

His critics point to continuing human rights violations, land seizures and laws requiring a majority local stake in foreign firms.

Mugabe has demanded that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, do more to get the sanctions lifted and restore foreign aid and investment.

But the European Union and other Western nations say the coalition, formed in February, has not done enough to restore the rule of law and begin democratic reform, blaming Mugabe and high-level loyalists for resisting change.

Zimbabwe is $5.7 billion in debt, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told reporters later Wednesday.

“We hunt for money. Our situation is very rudimentary,” he said. “We are unable to liquidate our debt.”

Biti, a former opposition official, said he would announce a national budget review in November in which support by the International Monetary Fund would bolster efforts to kick start Zimbabwe’s crippled economy.

The IMF released $500 million earlier this month in a sign of acceptance for the southern African nation’s new coalition. The money would be used for reconstruction of roads and water and energy supply and provide lines of credit for exporters.

But he warned that the IMF was not “a Father Christmas” and that the use of the funds would comply with international law and proper fiscal discipline.

“There won’t be anything that is consumptive and short-term,” he said.