President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has signed into law the country’s indigenisation legislation, empowering the state to take over control of foreign- and white-owned businesses. The move comes just three weeks before presidential and parliamentary elections that Mr Mugabe is favourite to win.

The indigenisation law was approved by parliament in September but the timing of the presidential assent suggests the ruling Zanu-PF party sees it as a vote winner. In the past week, the state-controlled media have stepped up its attacks on the opposition, accusing Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and independent candidate Simba Makoni, a former Zanu-PF finance minister, of planning to return land to dispossessed white farmers.