HARARE - President Robert Mugabe and his government have an opportunity to mend relations with the European Union (EU) despite the effects of debilitating sanctions once slapped on him and members of his inner circle.
But those sanctions have been removed on almost all his cronies’ except the first family.
By his admission recently, Zimbabwe cannot keep blaming sanctions for its troubles which are man-made.
It is against this background of seemingly well-intentioned overtures and good signals coming from the EU that Mugabe must pull his weight to make sure that Zimbabwe is at resonance with the bloc.
This is more important considering that Zimbabwe was excluded from the all-important United States-Africa investment summit which the nonagenarian leader and his allies in Zanu PF dismissed with the back of their hand.
Now is not the time for showing that cavalier attitude towards those that can help us repair and improve our economy.
The March 31- April 2 Africa-Europe heads of governments summit offers Mugabe the chance to remove any lingering doubts about indigenisation law and property rights.
This summit will run concurrently with the EU-Africa Business Forum which brings together 500 high-level participants including business leaders and government officials from across Africa and Europe.
As said elsewhere in this paper, both the summit and forum represent a unique and significant opportunity for Zimbabwean private sector representatives and government officials to network and exchange views on EU-Africa business and investment relations.
For Zimbabwe, this is an opportunity to assure the world that the country has buried the past and is prepared to work towards restoring political and investor confidence.
It is everyone’s expectation that Mugabe and the government will exploit this gathering by explaining the indigenisation policy and the confusion surrounding the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (Bippas).
Indigenisation has breached the Bippas and lack of policy clarity has kept foreign investors away yet these are the people who can inject massive capital and equipment in our ailing industries.
The business community which has traversed the length and breadth of Europe to charm investors needs to be backed by a strong government commitment to restoring and improving political and investor confidence.
Mugabe therefore, needs to sort things once and for all —we cannot continue to be divided, over moving into the future or remaining stuck in the past.