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AFRICA has, once again been emphatic in denouncing the illegal Western sanctions against Zimbabwe and demanding they be removed immediately and unconditionally.

Since the US, Britain and the European Union (EU) imposed their unilateral measures in early 2001, renewing them yearly thereafter, the continent has demonstrated its opposition to the embargo, imposed to punish the country for repossessing land from whites and redistributing it to blacks.

They have used every forum to denounce them, articulate how damaging they have been on the ordinary people and their economy and calling for their immediate removal.

On a visit to the US on September 15, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told his host, Mr Joe Biden that the American sanctions on Zimbabwe were not just affecting Zimbabwe but the rest of southern Africa as well. Noting that the measures were illegal and socio-economically damaging, he urged Mr Biden’s administration to lift them.

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Days later, African leaders, speaking at this year’s UN General Assembly in New York, had the same message to the US, Britain and the EU.

African Union chairman and Senegal President, Macky Sall, Sadc chairman and Democratic Republic of Congo President, Felix Tshisekedi, Kenya President, William Ruto, Namibia President Hage Geingob and South Africa International Relations Minister, Naledi Pandor are among the leaders who spoke strongly at the most high-profile international platform of the year, expressing their opposition to the punitive measures and asking those who imposed them to lift them.

“The AU again calls for the lifting of foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe. These harsh measures continue to be an injustice against an entire people and aggravate their suffering in these times of deep crisis,” said President Sall.

President Tshisekedi said: “We have questions over the maintenance of sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe; these sanctions which date back to the era of the late President Robert Mugabe. Why is our organisation so silent and so indifferent to this injustice and crime against innocent people?”

“As the current chairman of the Southern African Development Committee, I call upon the UN to do everything possible to achieve the immediate lifting of sanctions against the Republic of Zimbabwe and its people.”

President Geingob said President Mnangagwa and the people of Zimbabwe have made a lot of progress and reforms which the West must recognise by removing their sanctions.

“Apart from undermining the sovereign equality of nations, they also indiscriminately punish the general citizenry, reserving their bitterness for innocent hustlers and the vulnerable. This compounds injustice and worsens suffering,” President Ruto said.

Leaders on the continent could not have been more emphatic in their opposition to the sanctions on our country than this. The message is that Africa supports Zimbabwe in its fight against the unjust punishment wrought on it for repossessing its land.

They feel the pain that Zimbabweans have had to bear over the past 21 years. They therefore want the sanctions to be removed.

We note the improving relations between our country and the EU, which has been progressively easing its measures since 2018. We want the ties to further improve so that Zimbabwean companies can conduct business with Europe without any encumbrances arising from sanctions. More investment must flow from there too.

But the elephant in the room is the US sanctions. They prevent our country from accessing support from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund where the US holds untrammelled sway.

They restrict the free flow of funds to Zimbabwe not only from the US, but also other international sources given the dominance of Washington on global finance. They, too, punish US citizens who might want to do business with Zimbabwe. It, therefore, is these measures that must be removed yesterday as they are the most devastating.

SADC

As Sadc builds up to the region’s Anti-Sanctions Solidarity Day on October 25, we must see an intensification of the message directed at the US, Britain and the EU to rethink their illegal measures and remove them immediately and unconditionally.