REUTERS

In June, police dispersed pro-Mugabe protesters who gathered outside Finance Minister Tendai Biti's office, calling for Western-imposed sanctions against Mugabe to be revoked. Two weeks earlier, a bomb failed to detonate outside Biti's residence.

Harare -

About 50 pro-Mugabe youths gathered outside Zimbabwe's Finance Ministry on Wednesday, calling for government transparency amid controversial new plans to redistribute foreign-owned equity.

Protesters chanted outside the offices of Tendai Biti, an ally of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangerai and the country's finance minister.

“Youths have come to the realisation that we will remain poor and even poorer if we do not sign for what we are against,” said Hamilton Pazvakavamba, the leader of the group. “We will leave a petition for (Biti) to read.”

Pazvakavamba said the group is angry that government plans to redistribute foreign-owned equity will not benefit Zimbabwean youths.

“They have started the indiginisation of foreign firms, we do not see where we fit in,” he said.

Under Zimbabwe's new indiginisation law, foreign companies worth more than $500 000 must sell a majority of their equity to Zimbabwean blacks by 2015. But many fear the equity will fall into the hands of wealthy officials.

According to the United Nations' International Labour Office, 95 per cent of youths in Zimbabwe are unemployed in formal sectors.

In June, police dispersed pro-Mugabe protesters who gathered outside Biti's office, calling for Western-imposed sanctions against Mugabe to be revoked. Two weeks earlier, a bomb failed to detonate outside Biti's residence. - Sapa-dpa