Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe threatened on Wednesday a state-backed take-over of foreign firms and a boycott of products to retaliate against Western sanctions placed on him and his ZANU-PF party. The European Union and United States have imposed a travel ban and financial sanctions on Mugabe and his ZANU-PF allies over suspected human rights abuses spanning more than a decade and election fraud.
"It is now time to take action. Indigenisation and empowerment should start with those companies. We must take them over. We are not ashamed of that," Mugabe told thousands of supporters at an outdoor rally in the capital Harare. In the speech, he also called for a boycott of overseas products in a state with an estimated $6 billion a year economy that is not a major revenue generator at present for most foreign firms.
"If we know that some of them have products which we are buying, including foodstuffs, before we seize those companies, we can boycott their products," he said. Mugabe has already warned that ZANU-PF will nationalise firms from countries that have imposed sanctions, arguing they cannot operate freely while Western powers punish his party.
The threats add to worries of foreign investors in the resource-rich state, which introduced a law saying 51 percent of firms worth over $500,000 should be owned by black Zimbabweans. Mugabe supporters held placards saying "Sanctions do kill", "Start with Old Mutual" while others had a "hit list" of foreign firms that should be taken over.
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