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Misanet.com / Daily News, 5 May - Nkosana Moyo, the Zimbabwean Minister of Industry and International Trade, is reported to have resigned. It is understood his resignation was triggered by the government's refusal to act to end continuing invasions of companies by marauding war veterans and Zanu PF supporters seeking to woo the urban vote for the forthcoming crucial presidential election. Stuart Comberbach, the Permanent Secretary in Moyo's ministry, said that he could neither confirm nor deny reports of the resignation. Said Comberbach: "The reports of his alleged resignation surfaced today. But I have not spoken to the minister since he left for South Africa on private business. So I cannot confirm or deny the reports." He referred The Daily News to Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Information and Publicity or his secretary, George Charamba. The Daily News last night tried, fruitlessly, to contact both Jonathan Moyo and Charamba. Moyo, a respected businessman and banker, is one of the technocrats brought into the new-look 19-member Cabinet appointed by President Mugabe 10 months ago. The Minister, whose family has since left Zimbabwe, is believed to be joining the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in an unknown capacity. A source close to the Minister said last night: "He left in a huff for South Africa on Thursday afternoon because he was not sure how the government would react to his untimely resignation." Contacted for comment last night, Moyo, who was in South Africa allegedly en route to the IFC headquarters in the United States, promised to return calls but had not done so at the time of going to Press. Moyo is on record for expressing disappointment over kangaroo labour courts presided over by the rowdy war veterans in various companies where employers have been forced to fork out millions of dollars in what industrialists said amounted to extortion. Comberbach said that during the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, Moyo expressed considerable concern over the disturbances and interference with business by war veterans and former workers of various companies. Comberbach said: "Moyo voiced his deep concern about what was happening in the industries. He suggested that differences relating to labour disputes should be referred to the Ministry of Labour." He said Moyo expressed serious concern about the developments in the industries and the negative impact these would have on the level of confidence in business. "Moyo said this would have a negative impact on how we are perceived as a nation beyond our borders," said Comberbach. Soon after the World Economic Forum, held in Davos, Switzerland, Moyo said foreign investors told him they would not come to Zimbabwe as long as the country remained lawless. Moyo said then: "There was no debate about the land redistribution exercise but about people taking the law into their own hands that concerns the outsiders a lot. The incidents of the Press wars at the Daily News and the Herald and the bombing that happened last week were cause for concern." In the past two months, so-called war veterans have gone on a rampage, raiding companies and demanding that various amounts of money be paid to retrenched or fired workers.
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