Zimbabwe at 30: Indigenisation battle
Interesting developments in Zimbabwe ahead of Sunday's 30th anniversary of independence.
Behind closed doors, the MDC and Zanu-PF are fighting over the fate of a which requires white and foreign-owned businesses to sell a controlling stake to black Zimbabweans. The MDC wants the law watered down in order not to frighten away desperately needed foreign investment. At a cabinet meeting earlier this week, Zanu-PF apparently agreed. But since then it has been sending out some very mixed messages. 
One significant theory emerging from Harare is that Zanu-PF hardliners are deliberately trying to subvert the country's slow economic recovery ahead of likely elections. According to this version of events, Saviour Kasukuwere, the Zanu-PF minister in charge of indigenisation, is playing the role of spoiler - making public statements designed to keep the investment climate in Zimbabwe ambiguous, and deny foreign businesses the clarity they need to reenter the country in earnest.
"He's an aggressive thug," one western diplomat said to me of Mr Kasukuwere. "Some people don't see economic recovery to be in their political interests. Zanu-PF intends to fight the next election on the issues of sanctions and indigenisation, and for both of those issues to have traction you need a bad economy."
Whether or not that proves to be the case, none of this is easy for the MDC to handle. On the one hand the party is tired of being branded a western stooge by President Mugabe because of its private support for targeted western sanctions against senior Zanu-PF officials, and its lukewarm public calls for them to be lifted.
Indigenisation is another awkward subject - it wants the current law changed, but knows it has to tread carefully in order to avoid being portrayed, yet again, by Zanu-PF controlled state media, as a mere front for colonial western interests.
By the way, Queen Elizabeth is sending her "warmest greetings to the people of Zimbabwe, together with my best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous future," on Independence Day; apparently the same formula of words she used recently for Burma.
On a separate matter - about North Korean plans to train their team in Zimbabwe ahead of the World Cup.
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