Zimpapers Logo

Harare Bureau
Zimbabweans should have total control of the economy through value addition and beneficiation of products, and foreigners will only be allowed in as partners and not dictators, President Robert Mugabe said yesterday.

He said the ultimate goal was to grant the masses economic autonomy.

He made the remarks while officially opening a Choppies Supermarket at Chitungwiza Town Centre, which brought the number of shops the retailer has in Zimbabwe to 27.

The number is expected to shoot to 29 today, as two more shops are expected to be opened in Gweru with the group investing $41 million in total.

President Mugabe said the development was an African exertion that needed support and foreigners had no right to determine the country’s economic destination.

“We say we’re independent and rule ourselves but they say yes, you have that independence in institutions like Parliament, but we control the economy, that’s where the money is,” he said.

“We want to control that economy from production to manufacturing, marketing and exportation instead of going to the restaurants owned by those who have oppressed us since time immemorial. We cannot reject or chase them away because there is no country that doesn’t have foreigners. But they would be helping us not that we help them in our country. For us to continue saying yes master, yes baas?”

Yesterday’s event was attended by former Botswana President and Choppies Group chairperson, Festus Mogae and the two Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko.

President Mugabe said most businesses owned by indigenous people were failing to flourish because of dishonesty on the part of the workers.

“This is ourselves doing it now not the Europeans. It’s an African endeavour and let us support it and to the workers let us be honest,” he said.

“Underhand dealings and stealing is what pulls us back. You’ve been employed and you now want to find a way of draining the shop. You want to start your own business using someone’s business. This is what is failing our businesses as black people.”

He said when he was invited to the event by Cde Mphoko, whose son Siqokoqela is the managing director of Choppies Zimbabwe, he thought he was “simply coming to cut a ribbon for just five minutes.”

“Upon coming here I discovered that it’s a huge organisation, one of the largest firms I’ve ever visited,” President Mugabe said.

“Congratulations for this real demonstration of what individuals, when they work together, can do in order to make Zim-Asset a vehicle that feeds the people and a source of food for the people. It’s also a demonstration of how our raw materials can have value added to them, can be beneficiated. I simply thought it was only about groceries yet there are big things going on here. This is an organisation, to call it a shop is an understatement, because inside there is everything.”

Choppies also has 78 supermarkets in Botswana, 40 in South Africa and one in Zambia.

The President said a ready market would encourage farmers to produce more.

“This is what we want to see being done,” he said. “If Choppies is to go to our cities and maintain this thrust, there won’t be any cry anymore on the part of our horticulturists, gardeners even farmers who produce a number of things that can be turned into food almost immediately.

“I’m sure the two firms they are going to establish tomorrow (today) in Gweru will raise the status of that city as well. The party (Zanu-PF) and the government gives full support to such a development.”

He added: “To the people of Chitungwiza I say look after this, it’s your organisation. Let’s also look at the opportunities given to our young people; the employment of 1,900 people is a real opportunity amongst us.”

President Mugabe said shop owners should do away with the spirit of profiteering and note that profits were realised after some time.

Thanking President Mugabe for attending the event, Mogae said they would continue creating employment and eradicating poverty in the region.

“In doing so you have blessed the Choppies enterprise and the country as a whole,” he said. “I’m sure that even the shops that we will open in the future will share the blessings. We hope we will be able to use Zimbabwean products not here only but in the region.”

Cde Mphoko said all things being equal, the retailer was planning on adding up 10 more shops next year and employ more disabled people in addition to the current 11.