File photo of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at the official opening of his Zanu PF party's 11th annual national people's conference on December 17.Zimbabwe President Mugabe says the takeover of foreign-owned companies will go onUnder "indigenization," black locals must be given at least 51 percent share of companiesHe condemns other nation's acceptance of gays, saying "That's not our culture."(CNN) -- President Robert Mugabe said Thursday that Zimbabwe will go ahead with the takeover of foreign-owned companies, a scheme that has rattled investors, and warned Western countries to stop interfering in his country's affairs.
"We proceed with our indigenization and empowerment policy, and programs must be worked out to ensure that our resources are managed by us, they are controlled and exploited by us, and that they benefit the majority of our people," Mugabe said in an hourlong speech at the burial of the deputy director of the nation's intelligence organization.
For most of the time, Mugabe, 87, was speaking off the cuff in his vernacular Shona language without reading his prepared speech.
Zimbabwe's indigenization law, described as ruinous by Mugabe's partners in the country's fragile coalition, compels foreign firms to cede at least 51 percent of shareholding to black locals.
The former guerrilla leader said the process will go forward, starting with mines.
The policy has been opposed by his coalition partner and political foe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change.
The two-year-old coalition government of the resource-rich state published regulations in March giving mining companies 45 days to set out their plans for transferring ownership stakes to "indigenous" Zimbabweans.
"If our economy is controlled by outsiders, similarly the politics will be controlled by outsiders," added Mugabe, who has been at loggerheads with the West after it imposed targeted sanctions on him and senior officials of his Zanu PF party in 2002, following reports of human rights abuses and rigged elections.
"We don't worry ourselves about the goings-on in Europe, about the unnatural things happening there, where they turn man-to-man and woman-to-woman," Mugabe said. "We say, well, it's their country. If they want to call their country British Gaydom, it's up to them. That's not our culture. We condemn that filth. We get alarmed when these countries have the audacity to schedule us as an item to discuss in their parliament."
He urged his supporters to "unite in opposing and condemning the sanctions" that he blames for the country's economic freefall.
"We must demonstrate that we are ready to defend our country and sacrifice our lives. The enemy will try by all means to destroy us, but if we are united, we are strong," he said.
Without mentioning his political rival, Tsvangirai, by name, Mugabe said "some of us" have been asking the West to keep the targeted sanctions in place.
Mugabe's appearance Thursday was keenly watched by observers after his return at the weekend from his fourth trip to Singapore since the end of December. Officials have confirmed that he has undergone medical treatment there on previous visits.
Reports said that two weeks ago, at a meeting of Southern African leaders in neighboring Zambia, Mugabe was transported around the venue in a golf cart, looking exhausted.
But Thursday, Mugabe appeared energetic for an 87-year-old as he walked to around the gravesite unassisted.
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