Below is a copy of the letter by Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Corker (Republican) to the US Secretary of Treasury, Jacob Lew.
The Honorable Jacob Lew
Secretary of the Treasury
US Department of Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20220
Dear Secretary Lew:
I write regarding reports that the IMF, World Bank, and African Development Bank may proceed with a process to allow for clearance of the Government of Zimbabwe’s US$1,9 billion in unpaid arrears to those institutions.
While the willingness of a country to meet its debt obligations should normally be embraced, in this case arrears clearance will allow for new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe. Without meaningful progress toward long awaited reforms by the Mugabe regime, new lending could significantly alter internal political dynamics and help entrench the very same individuals responsible for the country’s economic collapse and gross human rights violations. This is a moment when Zimbabwe’s political future is highly uncertain but history has shown little prospect for genuine progress and great likelihood of further repression and mis-governance.
The Administration should use its voice and vote at these international financial institutions as well as its influence with creditors to ensure that any new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe, including lending intended to relieve existing barriers to lending, be preceded by meaningful progress toward:
Clear benchmarks for the restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe, including respect for private property, free press, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly;
A credible process of accountability for missing revenues from diamonds and a monitored plan for capturing future revenues; and
Official acknowledgment of past gross human rights abuses and a demonstration that the Government of Zimbabwe is prepared to make an earnest effort to remedy those abuses, such as clear steps to hold accountable those responsible for the massacres of more than twenty thousand people in Matabeleland in the 1980s, and for the disappearance in March, 2015 of human rights activist Itai Dzamara.
Without progress toward these goals, I fear new lending will not help Zimbabwe but hinder progress toward democratic governance and economic growth. In this instance, premature lending without conditions would likely empower those who have created the country’s political and economic crises in the first place.
Current law requires the President to make a number of certifications including the restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe; satisfactory election conditions in that country; equitable, legal, and transparent land reform; and the subordination of the security force to civilian authority as the necessary conditions for a US vote in support of Zimbabwe’s arrears clearance at an international financial institution. We urge the Treasury Department to act quickly to raise the lack of clear and meaningful governance and economic reforms with the IMF, World Bank, and African Development Bank, and to encourage creditors to require such reforms before supporting any new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely yours,
Bob Corker
Chairman
For argument’s sake, I am going to pretend that the only access to information that I have concerning Zimbabwe is from media reports. This alone condemns Zimbabwe in the court of public opinion because reports coming out of Zimbabwe seem to confirm what Senator Corker is writing.
Media reports from Zimbabwe’s own media present Government and security forces as not having respect for the rule of law.
In June 2015 it was reported by the Zimbabwe media that the army had threatened to remove vendors from the streets of Harare, as they were becoming a growing threat and could be used in an uprising against Government. The articles listed below are just some of the few one can find from a simple search on the internet.
‘Army gives vendors ultimatum’ – NewsDay, June 2 2015
‘Army to force vendors to move’ — Daily News, June 2 2015
‘Fear of uprising behind vendors clean-up’ – Daily News, June 3 2015
‘No military raid on vendors: Sekeramayi’ – Daily News, June 5 2015
‘Presidential Guard boss in hot soup’– Zimbabwe Independent, June 15 2015
‘It’s not army’s duty to remove vendors: Mnangagwa’ – NewsDay, June 11 2015
In October 2015 the Army again found itself making headlines, after the media alleged that it had threatened People First leader Joice Mujuru.
‘General threatens to combat Mujuru’ – Zimbabwe Independent, October 2 2015
‘Generals ‘panic’ over Mujuru’ — The Standard, October 4 2015
“Army ruckuses a threat to democracy” – NewsDay, October 5 2015
‘Zimbabwe Opposition Slams Military Threats Against Mujuru’ — Zimbabwe Independent, October 9 2015
‘Back off: Mujuru tells army’ – NewsDay, October 12 2015
“Mujuru warns army generals” – Daily News, October 12 201
Over the years Zimbabwe has been admonished for violating the rights of journalists. The situation has not been helped with the advent of new technologies that allow for the real time recording and transmission of these alleged incidents. It has become a common case against the police that they are captured on camera in the process of assaulting citizens and journalists, for whatever reason, and this confirms the propaganda by the country’s detractors of human rights violations.
‘Zimbabwe police assault, detain photojournalist’ – NewsDay, August 18 2014
‘Police assault, detain NewsDay reporter’ – NewsDay, October 23 2014
‘Police attack journalist’ – The Sunday Mail, August 30 2015
‘Zimbabwe journalists arrested over elephant poisoning story’, – BBC, November 3 2015
‘Zimbabwe journalists arrested for linking police with elephant poisonings’ — The Guardian, November 3 2015
‘Mushohwe charms, threatens media’ – NewsDay, December 10 2015
‘ZANU PF threatens to crush media’ — Zimbabwe Independent, December 18 2015
‘Police assault Herald scribe’ – The Herald, January 8 2016
‘Charamba threatens private media’ — Zimbabwe Independent, January 8 2016
‘Arrest of journalists exposes reactionary ZANU PF regime’ — Zimbabwe Independent, January 15 2016