The ManicaPost
Mukachana Hanyani
Correspondent
IN August 2019, SADC leaders agreed to designate October as the anti-sanctions month and October 25 as the Anti-Sanctions Day.
This is the day that all those concerned by hardships faced by Zimbabweans due to sanctions, come together to denounce the punitive measures and call for their unconditional and total removal.
For the past two decades, sanctions have been a menace to Zimbabwean economy and an albatross on the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Sanctions have damaged the Zimbabwean economy as a lot of companies that used to operate in the country have closed shop, with some relocating to other countries in the region.
The closing of companies and the relocation of some of them to other countries has contributed to the unemployment rate in the country.
The SADC region has also been affected by the sanctions.
The severe socio-economic challenges being faced by Zimbabweans despite Government’s best efforts have seen some citizens moving to some regional countries in search of better opportunities.
The sanctions imposed by the United States of America and her Western allies on innocent Zimbabweans are evil, illegal and debilitating.
No sane human being would condone them.
It is for these reasons that more than 10 African leaders who attended the United Nations General Assembly held in New York last month used the opportunity to call for the total and unconditional removal of the measures.
They agreed that the sanctions which have been in place for over two decades now have not done any good to Zimbabwe and its citizens.
The leaders concurred with President Mnangagwa and Zimbabweans that the sanctions should be condemned, removed and Zimbabwe allowed to chart her own destiny without any hindrance.
Surprisingly, some Zimbabweans, especially those in opposition politics, have joined Western countries in calling for more sanctions against innocent Zimbabweans.
They shamelessly claim that the sanctions are targeted at the Zanu PF leadership.
What they fail to take into consideration is that sanctions have never been targeted to any individual in the country as everyone in the country is feeling their effects.
Anyone who wishes to understand the sanctions and the motives behind them should revisit the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Chester Crocker`s statement of June 13, 2000, when the USA government planned to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Crocker said: “To separate the Zimbabwean people from Zanu PF, we are going to have to make their economy scream, and I hope you, Senators, have the stomach for what you have to do.”
Crocker’s statement makes it very clear that the sanctions were not imposed just to target Zanu PF leadership.
They were imposed to make sure that people are separated from Zanu PF through the sabotaging of the Zimbabwean economy.
The situation on the ground shows that the sanctions are affecting everyone, including those in the opposition whose leadership is at the forefront of supporting the continued retention of sanctions.
For anyone to claim that sanctions are targeted is just trying to run away from the reality on the ground.
The fact that opposition leader, Mr Nelson Chamisa is relying on donations from Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) members in the Diaspora shows that, contrary to the targeted sanctions narrative, the punitive measures are affecting everyone – opposition members included.
One of the reasons why CCC is clamouring for the Diaspora vote is that it believes it has a significant membership outside the country.
If the sanctions were not also affecting opposition members, they would not seek opportunities in the region or overseas.
They would be laughing at their suffering Zanu PF counterparts, not from foreign lands but at home.
They would be around enjoying their country knowing that sanctions are not affecting them.
Some claim that sanctions are not the cause of the problems that Zimbabweans are facing.
They claim that corruption is the major cause of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic challenges.
Surprisingly, Zimbabwe is not among the top ten most corrupt countries in the world as indicated by the World Index, US News and World Report, on September 27, 2022.
The countries that are among the top 10 most corrupt ones include Colombia, Mexico, Myanmar, Brazil, Zambia and Bangladesh.
But despite the graft scourge, these countries’ economies are doing way better than Zimbabwe.
Without condoning corruption, this amply demonstrates that the root cause of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic challenges is the sanctions, not corruption.
Zimbabwean companies have even been barred by American and European banks from accessing international loans, thereby forcing them to pay cash upfront when they wish to import goods from abroad.
Some Government owned companies like the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) were affected by the sanctions.
In 2013, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) seized US$2 million which the company had secured from the PTA Bank as a loan to retool one of its subsidiaries, Olivine Industries. Other companies that suffered similarly include CBZ Bank which was fined US$385 million by OFAC in 2017 for handling some transactions on behalf of ZB Bank, which was under sanctions.
Given this evidence, claiming that sanctions are targeted at certain individuals would be grossly wrong.
As we inch towards this year’s Anti-Sanctions Day, it is important for Zimbabweans to refuse to be misled by the West and its local lackeys into believing that their socio-economic woes are caused by corruption as the United States shamelessly claim.
We should all be prepared to use the day to condemn the measures and call for their unconditional removal.
We should be prepared to spread the correct message about the sanctions to the world to counter the mischievous US falsehoods.
Zimbabweans should use the day to recount to the world how the evil sanctions have affected their lives.
The world should hear from the affected people on the ground, lest the West continues to misrepresent to the world that Zanu PF and Government’s calls for the removal of sanctions are driven by senior party and Government officials’ need to free themselves from the sanctions cobweb.
