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President Mugabe

THE United States government under the leadership of President Donald Trump should reconsider its stance on Zimbabwe as the country has no quarrel with America but has been a victim of scorched earth polices adopted by successive Washington regimes.

The US imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2001 at the behest of the United Kingdom which had internationalised a purely bilateral dispute with its former colony. Britain — under then Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair — reneged on a legacy obligation to fund Zimbabwe’s land reform programme and this spawned an ugly fallout with Harare resulting in the country embarking on a fast-track land resettlement programme.

The UK retaliated by railroading the European Union into imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe and other countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand also followed suit. Since December 21, 2001, Zimbabwe has been under US sanctions following the signing into law of the so called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act which cut the country’s lines of credit from all multi-lateral lending institutions with dealings with the US.

The sanctions are estimated to have cost Zimbabwe more than $42 billion in lost revenue in addition to contracting the economy by a factor of over 40 percent. The US State Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control continues to intercept money accruing to Zimbabwean companies while investors accused of dealing with Zimbabwe are punished severely by the US.

Since coming into office following a shock triumph over establishment candidate Mrs Hillary Clinton in last November’s presidential election, Mr Trump has been a target of the US mainstream media which has lampooned him at every turn. He has not pronounced himself on foreign policy but has so far stuck to his pre-election promises of putting America first. Mr Trump envisages a situation whereby the US re-establishes itself as an economic powerhouse and disengages from the many world hotspots where it has entangled itself.

When he won the presidential poll, Zimbabwe was among the first countries to congratulate Mr Trump with the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Dr Chris Mushohwe issuing a statement in which he said Zimbabwe respected the wishes of the people of America and hoped that the new regime would foster a relationship that the country always had with the USA.

“Zimbabwe has never had any quarrel with America and does not need to have any quarrel with America. The new government will restore our long time relationship that we have enjoyed with the American people. We can only be happy for the people of America who have made a choice and their choice is their democratic and constitutional choice, which we must respect,” said Dr Mushohwe.

“As a Government, we are quite happy listening Mr Trump’s acceptance speech. It was quite encouraging that he was talking about the need for America to cooperate and work with every nation that wants to work and relate with the American government.

“Indeed, Zimbabwe has never been an enemy of America. We are quite encouraged that the new regime is prepared to work and cooperate with any nation that needs to work with America. We can only wish them well. As Zimbabwe, we cannot pre-judge the new Government. It could actually be a better government than the previous government.”

Yesterday, we published excerpts of President Mugabe’s interview with ZBCtv ahead of his 93rd birthday today in which he said Mr Trump should be given a chance to prove that he is a good leader who can come up with sound policies that will improve the current world order.

The President said the world should not hasten to judge the new US president but must wait patiently and see how his policies unfold. “I do not know. Give him time,” said President Mugabe. “Mr Trump may even re-look the sanctions on Zimbabwe.”

President Mugabe said he was surprised by Mr Trump’s election though he had not wanted Mrs Clinton to win the polls because of her anti-Zimbabwe stance. “I was surprised by his election, but I did not like Madam Clinton to win either,” he said.

“You see, I knew she could slap sanctions on us as a legacy. Indeed (former US president Barrack) Obama did that just before he left. Why did he have to do it? . . . Why didn’t he leave it to the incoming incumbent to make his own decision? We are just now under sanctions imposed not by Donald Trump but by Obama. What arrogance is that?’ President Mugabe said he had no problem with Mr Trump’s idea of American nationalism.

“But anyway, when it comes to Donald Trump, on the one hand talking of American nationalism, well America for America, America for Americans — on that we agree. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans.” We agree with the President and urge the American Government to re-establish sound relations with Zimbabwe.