Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
May 28 2012 07:53
The City of Cape Town has spent R175m running the Myciti bus service since the Soccer World Cup compared to an income of R35m, a report says.
Cape Town - Business Unity South Africa is
refusing to take part in the ceremony that will mark the signing of the
bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement in Harare on Friday.
The reason, the organisation says, is that it has not been consulted
about its contents, and the reported content of the agreement has rung alarm
bells for some members.
"For such a treaty to act as a catalyst for increased levels of
investment, the private sector needs to be comfortable with all aspects of
the text," Busa said in a statement on Thursday. "We do not yet have full
information about the scope of the agreement and it is these uncertainties
that are particularly worrisome for the business community."
It added that when the text of the agreement becomes publicly available
then Busa would be in a position to issue a more detailed assessment of its
business implications, especially for South African investors in Zimbabwe.
Busa also hopes that there will be a transparent and robust debate around
the issues as part of the Parliamentary processes before the agreement is
ratified.
Busa said it believes that a strong bilateral investment treaty could
make an important contribution to improving the business environment in
Zimbabwe for South African investors.
"The rights of those who have had land
and other interests expropriated or nationalised in Zimbabwe to seek
recourse cannot, however be compromised in order to achieve the protection
of future investments," the statement said.
Nonetheless, the organisation expects that some South African business
representatives will still travel to Harare tomorrow to observe the signing
of the agreement.
The rightwing lobby group AfriForum opposed the deal in the courts,
because it says the agreement only protects investments undertaken after the
deal is signed and not those made earlier - such as purchases of land which
have been expropriated by the land seizure programme of President Robert
Mugabe.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria made an order on Thursday in
terms of which the South African government undertakes to respect and honour
the judgments by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal
in favour of commercial farmers in Zimbabwe, and to uphold the rights and
remedies of victims of Zimbabwe's unlawful land expropriation exercise.
The order concludes urgent court proceedings brought by AfriForum on
behalf of Louis Fick, a South African citizen farming in Zimbabwe, although
it is unlikely to stop the signing ceremony going ahead.
- I-Net Bridge