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in Cincinatti Ohio. Our US correspondent Obi Egbuna (OE) caught up with the body’ s president, Supa Mandiwanzira (SM) to discuss the group’s visit to the US, illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe and AAG’s view on the current indigenisation and economic empowerment, among other issues.

OE: Mr Mandiwanzira thanks for giving me an opportunity to have an interview with you. Please begin by discussing the objective of your visit and some background of the Affirmative Action Group.
SM: We began this organisation in 1999 and some of our prominent members included Econet Wireless founder Strive Masiyiwa, former Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele and the late Peter Pamire to name a few.

The group was established to help engineer the next phase of power and self-determination, which is economic empowerment.
The political independence of Zimbabwe was very monumental for all of us.
However, it had very little bearing on the economy that was still controlled by the former Rhodesians.

Therefore, the AAG since its inception felt compelled to lobby Government to aggressively resolve this matter.
Our mining sector was still in the crutches of the former colonial master, the multi-nationals had nothing to fear if Zimbabwe remained satisfied with political independence that would not pursue power in the economic domain.

Our trip to the US was to inform US based Zimbabweans that our Government’s decision to enact a law that foreign companies that had a net worth of at least US$500 000 had to relinquish 51 percent of its shares to indigenous business people, was indeed genuine.

We informed them that if their points of reference were the Voice of America, BBC and other Western media outlets who have never portrayed Zimbabwe objectively and honestly they would be reluctant to take advantage of this historical moment.

The second reason we came was to explain the economic impact of US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, that were illegally imposed by the US mainly are having on their relatives and ordinary citizens in the urban and rural areas.

OE: That leads me to my next question, what is the impact the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 is having not only on the economy and investment opportunities but families and ordinary people?
SM: The sanctions are called targeted sanctions aimed at President Mugabe and Zanu-PF and, as his detractors put it, his cronies.
Let me give a basic example why this is an outright lie: if a Zanu-PF (senior) member becomes critically ill, he or she will be flown to Morningside Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, and that hospital is fully stocked with medicine and other accessories to attend to their medical needs.
If a pregnant woman in the rural areas of Zimbabwe goes into labour, she will have to be wheel-barrowed to the nearest hospital because the ambulance is not available.
She then will arrive at a hospital with no pain killers and a health delivery system that cannot provide quality assistance due to the impact of these sanctions.
The health delivery system is virtually non-existent because of these sanctions.
The Zanu-PF officials never run out of fuel, the ordinary people do and can’t get to work in order to feed their families.
Lastly from a business point of view, if investors want to give Zimbabwe lines of credit for banking but they read in Western newspapers everyday that your Head of State and Government is unstable and on the verge of absolute collapse, who in their right mind would consider this a place they would like to make a long-term commercial investment?
It makes our business sector look like liars and con artists, which as the President of AAG I take personally because we are legitimate and the business potential of our country is promising.
But then the propaganda geared at discouraging investment is so deliberate than these sanctions make their mark economically as well as politically.

OE: Can you give your opinion of the Sadc delegation that recently came to Washington led by the Special Assistant to the President of Namibia to lobby for the lifting of the US-EU sponsored sanctions on Zimbabwe.

SM: As a guarantor of the country’s Global Political Agreement and inclusive Government we are pleased to see Sadc honour their responsibility, to campaign for the lifting of the illegal US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Their best contribution could perhaps be how they share pertinent information with Zimbabwe.
Recently, they informed us that in their talks with the US Secretary of African Affairs Johnnie Carson, they were told that the sanctions would not be lifted because certain entities who are part of the GPA would like to see them remain in place.
This information is troubling, as it was extremely vital.
You can stand united on Zimbabwean soil giving the inclusive Government your political blessing, yet every chance you get you tell Washington and Britain to keep the pressure on your own country and people by maintaining crippling sanctions.
This shows who is really anti-Zimbabwean and anti-African.

OE: How do you feel of about US President Barack Obama and the overwhelming majority of the Congressional Black Caucus remaining in favour of the US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe?
SM: When President Obama was campaigning I had the biggest Obama sticker on my car in the entire country, because at that time I felt his victory would inspire Africans across the globe.
I was even convinced that that he needed more than one administrative term to change Bush’s Africa policy as a whole. As I voice these sentiments, I must (also) voice my displeasure with his decision to use his executive order to maintain US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe for the third year in a row. My concerns go beyond the realm of ignoring the democratic wishes of the African Union and Sadc.
But, as someone who belongs to a people that has endured colonialism and slavery, he must study the Zimbabwean situation by himself for himself.
He hasn’t taken the opportunity to let the historical facts be his guide, not his cabinet that doesn’t respect self-determination for Africans.
We in Zimbabwe know every US Assistant for African Affairs from Walter Kursteiner, Jendayi Frazier and currently, Ambassador Carson have echoed the sentiment that Zimbabwe threatens US interests in Southern Africa.
These are blanket statements with very dangerous and broadened ramifications.
They say it with impunity that they are working with the media and have on their payroll civil society groups to spearhead regime change in our country.
How do 13 million people in a small country threaten your interests in an entire region?
The only way is if they choose empowerment over capitulation.

OE: My last question concerns the launch of the Anti-Sanctions Petition in Zimbabwe. How do you respond to those who say President Mugabe and Zanu-PF are using this effort for political leverage?
SM: That rhetoric makes me very angry because it questions and insults the intelligence of Zimbabweans and at the same time, it is hypocritical for anyone including President Khama in Botswana to suggest that President Mugabe and Zanu-PF are using sanctions as a smokescreen for political gain.
I say emphatically if they believe that, then they should remove them immediately therefore taking away President Mugabe’s leverage.

The President (Mugabe) and 2,5 million patriots have signed this petition because they love their country.
The Zimbabweans at the Zim Expo all signed out to this effort as well.

The everyday people who are supporting this initiative belong to all three of Zimbabwe’s main parties Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC-M.
The US has placed sanctions on our financial institutions and the (Zimbabwe) Minerals Marketing Corporation and these companies are not owned by President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.

They are national institutions.
We the people of Zimbabwe will take this petition to the UN Security Council, the G-8, the European Union and other entities who need to know where the masses of Zimbabwe stand on the issue of sanctions.
This claim that the Anti-Sanctions Petition Campaign is being manipulated by President Mugabe and Zanu-PF is absolute hogwash. I thank our sisters and brothers in the US who sent an appeal to the White House

Senate and US Congress last year opposing the US-EU imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.