HomeOld_PostsThe EU/USA sanctions against Zimbabwe ...the case of Goliath and David!

The EU/USA sanctions against Zimbabwe …the case of Goliath and David!

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THE USA Embassy in Harare is an avid reader of The Patriot.
On July 18, The Patriot published an article I wrote about the USA tightening sanctions on Zimbabwe as a result of the US Treasury’s finale rule on July 10 2014.
By the evening of the same day, (July 18) the USA Embassy in Harare had posted a commentary on its website clarifying the finale rule and maintaining that: “The United States has not recently changed the scope of its targeted sanctions programme in Zimbabwe. 
“As in the past, the United States will continue to provide health services and food aid on a humanitarian basis in Zimbabwe.  
“In 2013, the United States mission in Zimbabwe provided more than US$28 million in food assistance and US$26 million for essential drugs including ARVs, antibiotics, and anti-malarial medicines to the people of Zimbabwe.”
The Sunday Mail wrote a similar story about the USA tightening sanctions of Zimbabwe on July 20, again to which the USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton, posted another commentary on the USA Embassy facebook page stating that the sanctions were not going to affect ordinary Zimbabweans, but “the 106 Zimbabweans with whom Americans may not do business nor give donations are still on the US targeted sanctions list.
“We still seek to support and do business with the other 12 999 894 Zimbabweans.”
The Patriot is Zimbabwe’s own Chatham House read by friends and foes alike!
But that’s not the focal point of this article. I would like to maintain that whether the sanctions against Zimbabwe have been increased, tightened or eased (it’s just a choice of diction by the Ambassador).
If the USA is sincere in working with the Government of Zimbabwe, they should remove all the sanctions against the 106 Zimbabweans elected by two thirds majority vote!
Some presidents and premiers of countries that follow the first-past-the-post voting system (candidate who receive the most or more votes) are elected into office in some cases by less than a third of the electorate (which means that they would have been rejected by 60 percent of the voters). Yet these countries are regarded as very democratic.
So we ask, in Zimbabwe where President Mugabe and ZANU PF were elected by 62 percent of the vote (and rejected by only a third) is that not democracy?
Perhaps Ambassador Bruce Wharton should explain what he meant by “the 106 Zimbabweans with whom Americans may not do business nor give donations are still on the US targeted sanctions list.”
I do not think President Robert Mugabe, or any of the people on the sanctions list, are in need of any food handouts or medicines for personal use from America.
These sanctions will affect ordinary people more than anyone else because individuals and donors will be hesitant to send any resources to Zimbabwe because of the ambiguous ‘finale rule’ decision on sanctions.
Here in the UK there was a time when it was very difficult for anyone with a Zimbabwean passport to apply for a bank account in British banks because of the sanctions.
I am not sure if the situation has improved now.
The banks would take longer to facilitate the opening of bank accounts for Zimbabweans because they wanted to make sure the applicants were not on the sanctions list.
I know of people whose accounts were frozen because the banks needed clarity from the government before sending any aid to Zimbabwe.
Even to ask for donations to send to Zimbabwe from some companies, especially public bodies, was also problematic as they would mention about sanctions against Zimbabwe!
The USA Embassy should be aware of how these targeted sanctions would affect ordinary Zimbabweans they say they will continue to ‘help’.
Recently the EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell’Ariccia commented that there is no leadership crisis in Zimbabwe and acknowledged the controversial role played by the civil society (NGOs) in meddling with domestic policies. Even the EU is willing to remove all sanctions by November in its quest to re-engage with Zimbabwe.
Furthermore, Zimbabwe has an ongoing, very strong case against the European Union’s illegal sanctions (case number T-190/12), which is being heard in the European Court of Justice.
Where will this leave the USA should Zimbabwe win her case against the EU?
It will be a shame for the Americans to continue imposing sanctions against Zimbabwe if one court rules that they were illegal and unjustified; because that would no longer be democracy, but bullying.
Zimbabwe is so far probably the only country in modern history that survived 14 years of united efforts to bring it down by the Western countries.
I am not a Christian (and I am glad that I ceased to be one since Form Two when I became enlightened by Aeneas Chigwedere’s African Heritage history book), but I would like to believe that Zimbabwe is the Old Testament’s David and the West, Goliath.
And I am persuaded to think that the presence of the Ark of the Covenant or ngoma lungundu/voice of God in Zimbabwe (Tudor Parfitt, 2008) gives us blessings because in the Biblical times, the Ark of the Covenant protected the tribe that kept it against all adversaries.

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