US adds Zimbabwe First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa to its sanctions list

The United States (US) government has added Zimbabwe’s First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa to its sanctions list saying in a statement she “facilitates her husband’s corrupt activities.”

The US also renewed targeted sanctions on President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President General Constantino Chiwenga, General Walter Tapfumaneyi and controversial oligarch Kudakwashe Tagwirei and eleven other key individuals.

While the US has terminated a sanctions regime on Zimbabwe, which has been in place since 2003, three entities and 11 individuals, including Mnangagwa and his deputy have not been removed from the economic embargoes.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that terminates Zimbabwe’s national emergency and revokes Zimbabwe-specific sanctions.

The administration is now using a Trump-era executive order that implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act as its authority to issue the sanctions.

“The United States remains deeply concerned about democratic backsliding, human rights abuses, and government corruption in Zimbabwe,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo.

“The changes we are making today are intended to make clear what has always been true: our sanctions are not intended to target the people of Zimbabwe.

“Today we are refocusing our sanctions on clear and specific targets: President Mnangagwa’s criminal network of government officials and businesspeople who are most responsible for corruption or human rights abuse against the people of Zimbabwe.

“These changes to our approach provide an opportunity for the Government of Zimbabwe to undertake key reforms to improve its record on human rights, good governance, and anti-corruption.

“Consistent with the findings of Treasury’s 2021 sanctions review, we are committed to the use of economic sanctions towards a clear and specific objective, in coordination with diplomacy and other tools of statecraft.”

“Specifically, the Department of the Treasury is designating three entities and eleven individuals, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Brigadier General (Retired) Walter Tapfumaneyi, and businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, for their involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuse.

“These designations build on recent U.S. Government actions, including pausing U.S. participation in the African Development Bank Dialogue and utilizing the Department of State’s new visa restriction policy for undermining democracy in Zimbabwe.

“These steps are concurrent with the termination of the preexisting Zimbabwe sanctions program that began in March 2003 and expanded on in subsequent orders.

“Actions to retire the previous sanctions program and designate key actors under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program are part of an ongoing effort to ensure we are promoting accountability for serious human rights abuse and corruption in a targeted and strategic manner,” the US government noted.

Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said the development represents Mnangagwa’s positive re-engagement efforts.

“Well, this is massive. A great vindication of President Mnangagwa’s Foreign Policy.

“That said, as long our President is under Sanctions Zimbabwe remains under illegal sanctions, as long as Members of the First Family are under sanctions, Zimbabwe remains under illegal Sanctions, and as long as senior leadership is under sanctions, we are all under sanctions,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the designations “are part of a stronger, more targeted sanctions policy towards Zimbabwe the United States is implementing.”

“Key individuals, including members of the Government of Zimbabwe, bear responsibility for these actions, including the looting of government coffers that robs Zimbabweans of public resources,” he said.

The Zimbabwean government has for years been blaming sanctions for the economic crisis but critics point to massive corruption and rights abuses for suffocating the country’s economy.