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Planted only weeks before a meeting at which the EU would consider whether to sustain or remove the discredited embargo, the leak was probably meant to test the waters.

A proposal was highlighted under which the bloc would suspend the illegal sanctions this month.

Whether they would be totally lifted or reinstated would depend on how the country progresses on crafting a new constitution and how it would conduct the referendum and subsequent harmonised elections expected by June next year.

The Government, especially the Zanu-PF side of it, rejected the conditional proposal, insisting that the illegal sanctions must be lifted immediately, unconditionally and in their totality. It is a consistent position the party has held and President Mugabe reiterated it at the 19th Ordinary Session of the AU in Ethiopia this week. In his first remarks after the suspension reports, he said Zimbabwe demands the removal of the ruinous measures before elections.

That is the correct position which resonates with the majority of generality of Zimbabweans and businesses who are suffering not because their leaders are barred from travelling to Europe, but because their economy is screaming for lack of lines of credit, grants and fair trade.

Zimbabweans reject the paternalistic attitude the EU showed in the initial report last week but one which characterises the 27-member bloc’s relations with Africa. It speaks of a bully who promises to reward you with a sweet if you behave in a prescribed way; if you don’t, strong-arm tactics are used.

But the initial proposal of conditional suspension of the illegal sanctions, followed by UK MP, Mr Peter Hain declaring he would move a motion in the British parliament yesterday calling on the EU to maintain the sanctions, also betrays divisions in the European bloc, or even Britain herself. The first story of Thursday last week in the London Telegraph quoted an anonymous British Foreign Office spokesman supporting the suspension, but a few days later Mr Hain moves a motion to extend the punitive action.

Countries like Portugal, Spain and some reports name Italy, want them removed, but hardliners like Britain, France and Germany hold an opposing view. The signals from Europe look a bit confusing, but with Britain sticking to her guns, at least based on Mr Hain’s proposed motion though his party is not in government, it is likely that come Monday next week, the EU will extend or even tighten the sanctions again. Britain still has substantial influence in the EU, so if Mr Hain’s action is any indication, the bloc is unlikely to change direction on its sanctions on us.

If Mr Hain and those who think like him get their way, Zimbabwe will continue labouring under the illicit measures hoping that her challenge of their legality at the EU General Court of Justice would succeed.

If the legal route fails, we move on as Zimbabwe has shown in 12 years of dogged resistance to imperialism and neo-colonialism that it cannot be cowed.

But what Zimbabwe, Sadc, AU, and the Non-Aligned Movement want is the total, unconditional and immediate lifting of the sanctions.  We continue to denounce them and expose their illegality under international law, their devastating, comprehensive impact and pressure for their removal.