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THE indigenisation programme continues to gather momentum with the empowerment juggernaut rolling into Marondera last Wednesday.
A high-powered delegation comprising Ministers Saviour Kasukuwere and Sydney Sekeramayi, Provincial Governor Aeneas Chigwedere, National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board chairman David Chapfika and board members met traditional leaders, Members of Parliament, provincial heads, district leadership, youths, women and other members of society from across Mashonaland East province.
The consensus that reverberated in the discussions was that the Government is ready and the people are ready for the rollout of the programme.
With Marondera being the last stop in the countrywide information-sharing programme according to the NIEEB, I believe that the empowerment programme should therefore take off guided by the Marondera consensus.
The Marondera consensus is reflective of views expressed by most people across all the country’s provinces.
What has come out of the outreach programme is that we are a nation that is pregnant with the empowerment expectation despite forces that are fiercely opposing the indigenisation process in cahoots with foreign companies that continue plundering our resources.
Just last week a pressure group, Hupfumi Kuvadiki, organised a protest march against the awarding of a tender by the Harare City Council to South African company EasiPark to install and manage parking meters and operate parkades in and around the city.
The pressure groups view was that this was done at the expense of competent local companies as required by the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act.
While the noble idea of a protest march against EasiPark at Town House was noble it was, however, unfortunate that its was hijacked by hooligans that turned it into a looting spree at the Gulf Shopping Complex.
While the council has explained that it is the indigenous component in this deal the fact still remains that there are local companies that are competent enough to play the role that EasiPark is playing.
Besides the issue of EasiPark the council continues flouting the law by giving retail licences and operating spaces to foreigners in the wholesale and retail sector yet the Government has decreed that the sector should be 100 percent indigenised.
This means that no foreigner is allowed to participate in the sector.
However, the reality on the ground is that council continues issuing these licences to foreigners, the majority of whom are from Ghana, Nigeria, DR Congo, China and India.
What is worrying about this invasion of the retail sector is that none of these foreigners is bringing in any tangible investment into Zimbabwe.
For example, a Nigerian or Chinese sets up shop at the Gulf, imports television sets from South Africa and starts selling to Zimbabweans.
Where is the expertise, technology transfer or financial investment here?
Any Zimbabwean with a passport can run the business. In fact, thousands of Zimbabweans have demonstrated time and again that they can do the job in the retail sector.
However, when they seek to expand their businesses and open shops in the capital the door is firmly shut.
It is a pity that Zimbabweans wait for weekends to fight for tables to place their wares and sell in carparks and pavements. What is more disappointing is that the foreigners’ continue to defy our laws and have no respect for natural principles.
If you go to London the majority of shops there are owned by the British, in Beijing by Chinese, in Lagos by Nigerians so why should it be different when it comes to Zimbabwe?
Hence, sulking when Zimbabweans demand their right is both disingenuous and insulting on the part of concerned foreigners.
Therefore, without sacrificing my principles on the altar of political correctness, without apologising or equivocation I state categorically that it is high time we tell the foreigners operating in the retail sector and the likes of EasiPark to pack their bags and go.
Thank them for the service they provided over the past 30 years and they should return the thanks for the profits they made from us during the same period.
Our all-whether friends like the Chinese and South Africans are free to acquire 49 percent shareholding in other sectors but the wholesale and retail sector is reserved for us indigenous Zimbabweans according to our law.
While I have no doubt that sensible foreigners will heed our call and vacate our space there is no doubt that a few mischievous ones will resist.
We therefore need to take the battle for indigenisation and empowerment to Town House or else we risk losing the Fourth and Final Chimurenga that is supposed to guarantee the complete emancipation of Zimbabwean people by putting the final stamp of approval on the legacy of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
With Comrade Ignatius Chombo already in the trenches fighting anti-people programmes championed by MDC-led councils throughout the country Minister Kasukuwere should also take his gloves off and step into the ring.
The Harare City Council and other urban councils need to come to the party inasfar as the implementation of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment law is concerned.
l The writer is CEO of ZvavaBudya Empowerment (Pvt) Ltd t/a ZV Empowerment. [email protected] or  077 7 096 334.