The majority of business people who back Mugabe’s regime have control over high profile companies in the country. A number of them enjoy monopolies in industries like agriculture, construction, mining, textiles, manufacturing, retail and banking.
Hebson Makuvise, the MDC chief representative in the UK, said the same people denounce Western countries and their leaders during the day, but hop onto a plane by night to visit the same countries.’
Makuvise said during his brief visit to the EU in Brussels recently, all talk was about the sham elections and how the regime has overseen the destruction of the country, through greed.
He said when he left Brussels, the EU were still working on the list, based on information supplied by their embassies in Harare. The EU currently targets more than 130 individuals with visa bans and an asset freeze. The EU intends to add around 40 people to that list, some from the security apparatus of the regime, identified as being involved in the election crackdown, plus the business figures helping prop it up.
There are reports that five companies could also be hit and it would be the first time that business people and companies in the country had been targeted by EU visa bans and asset freeze.
Meanwhile reports from Maputo, Mozambique say authorities in that country are considering setting up temporary refugee screening centres for thousands of Zimbabweans who have fled across into its territory.
Goncalves Sengo, the head of the national refugee assistance institution, said transit centres would be set up for screening purposes. Details of the asylum seekers would be taken to see if their claims fit with international refugee statutes, said Sengo. The number of Zimbabweans who have fled into Mozambique is not officially documented, but there has been a steady rise of immigrants fleeing political persecution.
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