WE are happy that the UN Special Rapporteur, Alena Douhan’s report was officially presented at the recently held United Nations General Assembly.

It is time the UN has teeth and act on the report that clearly stated that the sanctions are illegal and harming the ordinary person.

Douhan came on a 10-day fact-finding mission on the effects of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West and clearly highlighted the economic strangulation of the country by these diabolic measures.

While the country has made significant strides towards development, these unilateral coercive measures have made it difficult for Zimbabwe to access lines of credit and attract investment.

We are fighting with one hand tied behind our back.

This has, in turn, adversely affected agriculture, industry, mining and access to markets.

We are recording successes in these areas but we could be doing much more without these illegal embargoes Lack of job opportunities as a result of these unilateral illegal economic sanctions has forced thousands of Zimbabweans to leave the country to seek employment elsewhere.

Beyond doubt and as evidenced by successes recorded since inception of the Second Republic, if Zimbabwe is left alone to run its affairs without hurdles like these cruel illegal sanctions, it is capable of competing with the best.

Zimbabwe has lost more than US$100 billion in revenue over the past 20 years.

The withdrawal of support by potential partners who fear punishment by the US has crippled the health and agricultural sectors, among many others. Everyday, the ordinary man and woman feel the debilitating effects of these evil measures.

Religious organisations, industrialists, politicians,  health practitioners, teachers, farmers, students, miners and farmers, among others, all want immediate unconditional removal of these genocidal measures.

Surprisingly though, there are some among us who are urging the tightening of these sanctions. And curiously enough, they are Zimbabweans! 

But these are Zimbabweans only in outlook, truth is that they are Western-backed puppets dancing to the tune of their master’s voice.

Clearly some civic society groups and Nelson Chamisa’s variant of the MDC, CCC, don’t like sanctions to go.

This Western-created party looks at these sanctions as a potent weapon to attract the vote of the protesting suffering masses.

There is a misconception of why these sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe by the West in the first place.

The Land Reform Programme only helped to trigger a grand design by the US and its allies. The West never wanted the liberation movements to be in power because they feared they would guard their resources jealously.

The vast natural resources in countries that won their independence through armed struggle has seen the West adopting all means necessary to have a piece of the pie.

They then think the best way to get control over them is by imposing proxy governments in countries like Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, among others.

That is where the gospel of regime change in Southern Africa comes from. Illegal punitive sanctions on Zimbabwe are meant to bring down ZANU Pf as  a former liberation movement in Government. And the West believes that once a Government by a former liberation movement in Zimbabwe is replaced by a pliant puppet regime, that wind of change would be replicated throughout the region.

SADC is aware of this and it won’t let it happen.