Company invasions further blow to economy - report

Invasions of companies by supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party earlier this year cost the already staggering economy millions of dollars in lost production, AFP reported on Thursday, quoting a new report. Between March and May this year, war veterans who support the ruling ZANU-PF party stormed companies under the pretext of resolving wage and employment disputes.

The report, sponsored by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) and a German civic group Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, is based on an analysis of 40 companies, mostly in the capital. A total figure on losses incurred as a result of the invasions could not be given, but the maximum loss by a single company in the study amounted to US $618,000, researcher Phineas Kadenge said. The report recorded how, in all 40 cases, companies that reported the invasions to the police were told they could not intervene to enforce the law as the matter was "political".

"Perceived political affiliation ... did not influence whom the invaders invaded," Kadenge told a breakfast seminar.
But this was quickly disputed by delegates who were adamant that the invasions were a "political gimmick" aimed at gathering support for the ruling ZANU-PF in the urban areas, where the party lost all parliamentary seats in last year's polls. The invasions were also intended to undermine the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and private businesses, perceived to be strongholds of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), delegates argued.