Pressure is mounting.  Zimbabwe has become a nightmare for foreign busi-ness in the past weeks with the annual inflation rate now well into 2,5 and 3 million per cent. Mean-while, the government of Robert Mugabe, elected fraudently is trying to impose prices for goods and services.  This week’s rate for the Rand on the black market is R100 equal to Z$1,3 trillion.
South African firms are resisting the urge to pull out of Zimbabwe despite an increasingly hostile busi-ness climate in the hope they will be in a prime position to benefit from a future upturn.
“Robert Mugabe’s presi-dential claim is illegi-timate,” say regional poli-tical and economical analysts.  If SADC wished to be taken seriously, it would have to declare Robert Mugabe’s victory illegitimate.  The USA and EU have condemned the Mugabe’s one-man presi-dential polls as a farce, but none of SADC’s 14 mem-bers states (except Zambia) have criticized the move.  Zimbabwe is presenting the region with “serious consequences” with regards to its economic prosperity.
Several Zimbabwe-based South African company bosses were hauled before the courts last year for overcharging while they are also having to absorb the impact of a new law “The State and Small Enterprises Indigenization Act” forcing them to cede a controlling stake to native Zimbabweans who are mainly the war veterans and the ZANU PF loyal-ists.
This law will force all investors to share the cake with the state.  49% goes to the investor and 51% to the government and as a result this has caused inve-stor’s fatigue.  But analysts says, the dozens of compa-nies ranging from mining giants, banks to tourist operators-which are cling-ing on are confident that things are bound to get better at some stage.  Banks investing in Zim-babwe include Standard Bank, known as Stanbic in Zimbabwe, Nedbank ha-ving shares in the Merchant Bank of Central Africa, MBCA and ABSA with shares in the CBZ-Jewel Bank of Africa. Apart from that ¾ of the shares in the CBZ belongs to senior ZANU PF leaders.
Mr Leon Kufa, a  Zimbab-wean financial consultant in Namibia said, “I believe that the decision by com-panies to stay in Zimbabwe is more of a long term business strategy than a humanitarian gesture.  They are simply positioning themselves for an antici-pated economic recovery”.
South Africa has long been Zimbabwe’s biggest trading partner and according to the officials at the Zim-babwean Embassy in Namibia,  around 20 major companies and scores of smaller enterprises are still operating in Zimbabwe and more investment is forthcoming from China and Russia.
“Doing business is very difficult but we continue monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe and our business operations”, says Cliver Tasker, Chief Executive of Standard Bank Africa, in a telephone interview with this reporter, but we have no intentions of pulling out.
SADC is facing its most “profound challenge” since 1992. 

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Among the most outspoken in the Zimbabwe issue has been Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian President who is the continent’s only female leader.  On her visit to Namibia, she was the first African leader to sup-port the proposed UN sanctions against Zimbab-we’s leaders, saying they send a “strong message” that the world will not tolerate violence to retain power.  South Africa’s largest supermarket ope-rator, “Pick ‘n’ Pay” is al-so keeping a close eye, its foot in the door through its 25% stake in Zimbabwe’s TM chain stores even though it has not received any dividends in the last four years.  TM supermar-ket continues to trade under exceptionally difficult economic conditions with procurement being their biggest challenge.
They continue to support their business and hope for political and economic stability in the near future.
High street giants, South Africa mining firms are still clinging on in Zimbab-we despite the ever grow-ing problems of finding parts and coping with constant power blackouts. The Johannesburg based Impala Platinum, the big-gest foreign investor in Zimbabwe through its subsidiary Zimplants, is working out on how to circumvent some of the problems it had exper-ienced and was hoping to increase production four-fold by 2010, according to recent reports.  Currently, there are talks with the neighbouring Mocambique to import electricity for their mining operations only.
The tourism sector industry is still arranging holidays for thousands of foreigners to visit the country’s pre-mier’s attraction, the Vic Falls.  Vic Falls benefit from its location next to the Zambian borders.
“All supplies for the hotel are transported from Zambia, including food and fuel. That makes us least affected by the meltdown, we have always been using the US$ cur-rency, so we do not feel the impact of the Zim$’s collapse,” said Tommy Edmunds, Chief Executive Officer of the Johannesburg based, Tourvest.
The violence that preceded the election was so intense that the results did not reflect the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe.  Few voices of dissent have cropped up across Africa.  Last week, the G8 called on a slap in the face for President Thabo Mbeki.  This call by eight of the world’s most powerful leaders is a stinging humi-liation for Zimbabwe’s mediator, but Thabo Mbeki urged that he is best placed to broker a settlement between the governing party and the opposition and said that sanctions would only worsen the situation.  While the world leaders have previously been willing to leave the hot potato of Zimbabwe in his lap, observers say the world have run out of patience with the South African leader’s approach.