DECIBELS against the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West rose to a crescendo last week as African leaders re-iterated their call before over 200 leaders meeting for the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 77).

It was not only one African leader, but voices right across the whole continent challenged the West to end the illegal coercive measures unconditionally.

AU chairperson and Senegal President Macky Sall took the lead in telling the UN General Assembly to immediately lift the harsh and unjust measures. Not to be outdone, SADC and the DRC President Felix Tshisekedi echoed the same message. He wondered why the UN remained ‘so silent’  and ‘indifferent’ to such a crime against innocent people. Presidents Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, William Ruto of Kenya and Hage Geingob of Namibia were also among  those who called for the immediate lifting of the illegal Western sanctions. 

Earlier on, when US President Joe Bidden hosted SA President Cyril Ramaphosa, he was told to his face that Zimbabweans’ migrating to SA was a direct result of Western illegal sanctions, and not a result of misrule or economic mismanagement as the US and Nelson Chamisa’s CCC would like the world to believe.

When the US passed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA), it made it very clear that this was meant to see the Zimbabwe economy ‘scream’. This, they hoped their surrogate opposition parties, like the CCC, would benefit from the people’s suffering.

Here at home, in unison with the rest of Africa, through the Citizens Against Economic Sanctions (CAES), Zimbabweans have once more denounced the illegal sanctions as sabotage. CAES acknowledges that it is their task to educate the people on the sanctions and their intended effects. This is to counter the lies spread by regime change advocates and their CCC puppets. Basing on the West’s own definition, the illegal unilateral sanctions are against the tenets of  democracy and human rights.

This is confirmed by the UN Report of the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights by Professor Alena Douhan. Screws put on access to loans have seen companies that have not been closed downsizing. This has led to loss of jobs and migration of our young talent to other countries. All the suffering, including loss of value of our currency and deterioration of our public institutions are a result of the illegal sanctions by the West. This has led to a serious effect on basic human rights, including right to food, sanitation, education and health. Sanctions have led to a curtailment of development assistance leading to a loss of revenue in excess of US$100 billion.

Sanctions did not only target individuals but also various entities in key production sectors of the economy. This has had a negative impact in the industrialisation process and manufacturing. Because of all this and many more negative effects, Professor Douhan recommended the immediate lifting of these illegal unilateral measures as dictated by the principles of international law. 

The whole world agrees with this except for the US and its partners in crime, whose arrogance is a given. They believe it is only their views which matter, even though in most cases it is a display of double standards.

The US is not even ashamed to defy the UN, a world body it helped to create.

But the Second Republic has not taken all this lying down. It has countered the intended negative impact of the illegal sanctions by relying on our own resources. Massive development projects will surely see the country an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

But this doesn’t mean there will be any lull in our fight to see the evil coercive unilateral sanctions lifted unconditionally. The invitation of Zimbabwe, for the first time, to the US- African leaders Summit in December will offer us another opportunity to lobby for the unconditional immediate lifting of the Western illegal sanctions. But before that, on October 25, the day which has been designated by SADC as Anti-Sanctions Day, the world is going to see how the region is united in their fight  to see the unilateral illegal sanctions disappear.