Chenayi Mutambasere on Sanctions: We are being held to ransom by 141 individuals

By Chenayi Mutambasere

If ever I were to give the Zanu PF government any credit it would be for the ability to create smoke and mirrors. For all their faults they are damn good pantomime artists.

Just when we are all coming to terms with how well and truly messed up the economy is they manage to create an imaginary character that has us all running around in circles

If it was a song we would be moving to Enzo Ishall’s Kanjiva – Apa, kanakuti Apa, Apo song with Zanu PF telling you apa pamasanctions nopakupayi nzara and everyone else saying apa paCorruption.

What the Zimbabwean citizenry ought to understand is that sanctions are a symptom not a cause. To get rid of the symptom for good get rid of the cause. Another point of which has been subject to much political rhetoric is understanding who is directly or indirectly impacted by sanctions.

Are Sanctions Targeted Or Not?

One of the key points of confusion is understanding whether the sanctions against Zimbabwe are targeted or not targeted. Broadly speaking the sanctions against Zimbabwe are targeted to specific individuals or businesses associated with these individuals.

The latter being the key issue for Zimbabwe. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has created a list of individuals that are on the sanctions list.

The reason being these individuals or their companies are associated with activities that have had a grossly adverse impact on human rights abuses or engage in corrupt activities that inadvertently contribute to the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe.

This link from the US treasury provides a deeper insight of who is targeted by the US sanctions

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/zimb.pdf

Being on the US sanctions list means that any business or banks who engage with you are likely to face a high penalty if discovered. And this is how the sanctions go from impacting the few to impacting the many .

In Zimbabwe as a direct result of Zanu PF’s dictatorship rule – rampant corruptions means that those individuals on the sanctions list have their fingers in every pie going in Zimbabwe .

Barclays Bank Zimbabwe before being sold off incurred a penalty of $2.48million between 2008-2013 for processing transactions whereby more than 50% of the company was owned by individuals on the sanctions list.

More recently in 2017 John Mangudya’s former baby CBZ was slapped with a $385million fine for processing transactions worth millions for ZB bank which was under economic sanctions at the time.

In total the individuals and entities included in the OFAC list are c.141. That is 141 individuals (including E.D.Mnangagwa) or entities holding the country at ransom. These individuals which include any businesses owned or controlled by the Government of Zimbabwe are the reason why :

1/ most banks in Zimbabwe cannot access international credit lines. It would be difficult to establish whether or not the sanctioned individuals are not involved with the bank requesting the funding.

2/Zimbabwe cannot access development finance. With the Government of Zimbabwe being on the sanctions list due to evidence of corruption, political violence and/ or human rights abuses. This means the country will continue to have no plausible monetary supply policy as long as the same government exists .

3/As the Zimbabwean government is a sanctioned entity it is excluded from regional activities to increase international market access..

Understanding The Why

I remember once banning my children from using the downstairs bathroom – they complained much about this inconvenience as it meant a longer pause from watching T.V while going further to the upstairs toilet. So they asked what can we do to get back that privilege?

Every sanction is imposed to enforce a change in behaviour.

Given these sanctions were initially introduced in 2001 it seems highly unlikely that simply insisting on their removal will work. However It certainly is within the reach of both the Zimbabwean people and their Government to have these sanctions removed altogether.

On their debut the ZIDERA sanctions were voted for by 91% of Congress. The overriding principle of ZIDERA “was to support the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve broad-based and equitable economic growth, and restore the rule of law.”

Manisha Singh, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs says “Our pressure on Zimbabwe remains in place. We are trying to use this pressure to leverage political and economic reforms, human rights observations.”

How To Get Them Removed

Understanding why and whom the sanctions are targeted makes for an educated guess as to what should happen to move the country forward.

No one country is put on the sanctions list for no apparent reason. For instance Turkey was put on sanctions 9 days ago over its offensive against the Kurdish regions and in 9 days Turkey retreated and agreed to a permanent safe zone subsequently the sanctions were lifted.

But in 18 years the Zimbabwean government has failed to do a single action towards getting the sanctions removed.

The European union that dropped the majority of its sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2014 leaving only Robert And Grace Mugabe is now calling for the sanctions to be reinstated on the basis of that:

1- The EU condemns strongly the violence that occurred during the recent protests in Zimbabwe; firmly believes that peaceful protest is part of a democratic process and that excessive force in response must be avoided in all circumstances”.

2- EU calls for Mnangagwa “to remain true to his inaugural promises … put Zimbabwe back on a path of reconciliation and respect for democracy and the rule of law”.

3- Mnangagwa’s administration has been accused of deploying soldiers that fired live ammunition at unarmed civilians and committed a litany of human rights abuses in response to protests over a fuel hike.

To date, none of the implicated soldiers have been brought to book while more than 1,000 mainly opposition officials and supporters have been arrested with trumped up charges.

With the most recent troubling case of Hilton Tamangani who was arrested, tortured and succumbed to his injuries while in remand. The remaining 10 vendors were released on bail 2 days after Hilton had passed.

5- EU Parliament called on Zimbabwean authorities “to undertake a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including rape and sexual violence by the security forces and to bring those responsible to justice”. None of which has been carried out.

Most parents or guardians will know the biblical verse spare the rod spoil the child. In the same way the world over seeing the plight of the Zimbabwean people has felt that sanctions must be introduced to pressurise the government to enforce social, economic and political reforms for the socio-economic betterment of the people of Zimbabwe.

The GoZ instead of repenting and reforming are instead digging their heels in like a spoilt brat all at the behest of the Zimbabwean people.

If 91% of the American Congress feel sanctions should remain these people are only answerable to their American electorate no amount of marching or local football games will change their minds .

As for the SADC regional countries this cry for sanctions to be removed is nothing short of fake crocodile tears. In the 1970s the Rhodesian government was put on worser sanctions including an oil embargo. But throughout that era regional countries like Mozambique, South Africa continued to trade freely with Rhodesia. Indeed even fuel companies like Mobil, Total etc continued trading in Rhodesia. Proving sanctions never stopped any country being open for business.

If the future of your children in a country of 14.6million people is being held ransom by 141 individuals and 1 government – what say you Zimbabweans?

For your perusal find your 141 here https://photos.state.gov/libraries/zimbabwe/231771/PDFs/sdn_list_condensed.pdf

Chenayi Mutambasere (Msc Development Economics and Policy) is the MDC UK and Ireland Province Secretary for Industry and Commerce. You can follow her on Twitter: @ChenayiM