The ManicaPost
Innocent Mujeri
Correspondent
ZIMBABWE’S economy is battling for life due to the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Australia, Canada and the European Union (EU).
It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to see that the illegal embargoes were a response to the Land Reform Programme (LRP) implemented in the Year 2000.
The noble programme triggered the imposition of economic sanctions against Zimbabwe in the form of the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA).
These sanctions have greatly affected the country’s economy and for over 20 years, the country’s economy has been limping.
It has to be known that the USA and EU imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in order to force politicians to refine Government policies in a “way that would ensure Zimbabwe is ruled in a democratic manner.”
In imposing the sanctions, the USA and EU argued that it was targeting the ruling elite.
However, the so-called targeted sanctions are actually targeted at vulnerable groups of society who suffer, and not the targeted group.
The sanctions are certainly targeted, not at a few individuals or Zanu PF politicians, but at every Zimbabwean man, woman and child.
The sell-out Zimbabweans who have aided, and abetted, and even applauded the sanctions fail to appreciate that it is their own kith and kin, ordinary Zimbabweans, who are being collectively punished by these evil embargoes.
It is imperative to highlight the fact that the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are basically aimed at influencing political decisions in Zimbabwe although the senders claim to be seeking to restore democracy and promote economic recovery.
The sanctions game in Zimbabwe is simply a game of politics.
It is important for all Zimbabweans to understand that all the European countries that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe did so in retaliation to the country’s land reform programme.
So by imposing sanctions on the country, the EU is simply expressing solidarity as a white race.
They all feel that a black man cannot be allowed to get away with such ‘impunity’ as to dispossess a white government and its people of rich pieces of land.
Sanctions are therefore a “lesson” to Zimbabwe and other African countries never to challenge the white man.
It is paradoxical to note that the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and EU, who are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), continue to impose economic sanctions on Zimbabwe, and yet WTO’s main aim is to liberalise trade.
One of the direct purposes of economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe is to restrict trade which they purport to liberalise through the WTO.
Therefore, it is clear that these countries are desperately trying to deprive Zimbabwe from economic gains that she can obtain through trade.
It is not a secret that the sanctions have become an albatross on the neck of the Zimbabwean people.
They have caused significant challenges to the country and its citizens.
The economic sanctions have inflicted damage on the country, the ruling elite and core support groups.
The mechanism through which economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are believed to achieve their ultimate objectives from an economic perspective was based on a reversal of the international trade theories, which assume that world economic welfare is maximised under conditions of free trade.
It is almost unnecessary to reiterate the fact that economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe seldom directly destroy the infrastructure of Zimbabwe.
What is actually happening on the ground is that Zimbabwe’s infrastructure, especially roads, hospitals and sanitation systems are being neglected, and thus fall into disrepair due to economic sanctions.
This sanctions-induced negligence and scarcity has inflicted untold suffering on the ordinary, innocent and poor Zimbabweans.
For instance, these illegal economic sanctions have significantly reduced the quality and quantity of clean water.
In all urban areas, it is now normal to experience water shortages and sometimes drinking water available from city councils would be dirty with visible objects of faecal-nature.
Furthermore, due to lack of unfettered access to nutritious food and clean water, the average level of health of Zimbabweans has significantly deteriorated.
It is also imperative to highlight the fact that Zimbabwe’s health sector is genocidal right now due to economic sanctions which have reduced the capacity of the public health system.
Due to the illegal sanctions, simple and treatable diseases have become life-threatening problems in Zimbabwe because of a perennially inadequate supply of medicines and medical and pharmaceutical equipment.
More so, economic sanctions have significantly reduced available resources for Zimbabwe’s health sector and as a result, options for preventive care and curative medical services have become unacceptably limited.
These sanctions have severely interfered with the functioning of basic health and education systems and undermined the right to work.
The suffering of the Zimbabwean people due to sanctions is a testimony that sanctions most of the time fail to reach their originally specified targets.
To understand the impact of sanctions on Zimbabwe, it should be known that sanctions have caused the freezing of financial assets, suspension of technical and aid assistance, trade controls as well as blacklisting of the country.
Sanctions have caused freezing of the off-shore assets of individual members of the government.
They have caused confiscation of government’s assets as well as stopped transfer payment and interest.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has maintained that the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are hurting the entire Southern African Region; hence the economic bloc declared that every October 25 should be reserved to calling for the unconditional removal of the embargos.
As Zimbabweans, we will not tire in calling for the unconditional removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe.
