THE major highlight of the EU Parliament’s decision to recommend further renewal of illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe on February 15 2019 was a pernicious attempt to recolonise Africa and perpetuate slavery while destroying liberation movements in southern Africa.
Among the resolutions the EU Parliament came up with during the ill-fated meeting in Brussels on Thursday last week was that:
“The EU Parliament resolved to call on the European Council to review its restrictive measures against individuals and entities in Zimbabwe, including those measures currently suspended, in the light of accountability for recent state violence.”
The embattled bloc also resolved that: “…the EU strongly condemns the violence that occurred during the recent protests in Zimbabwe; firmly believes that peaceful protest is part of a democratic process and that excessive force in response must be avoided in all circumstances.”
President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa was not spared from the madness as he was ‘urged’ to “…remain true to his inaugural promises (to) put Zimbabwe back on a path of reconciliation and respect for democracy and the rule of law.”
He was also ‘ordered’ to “…undertake a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including rape and sexual violence by the security forces and to bring those responsible to justice”.
But, an EU meeting of Foreign Affairs ministers on Monday largely ignored those demands, instead giving Harare’s re-engagement programme a chance.
Zimbabwe has been on an intensive engagement and re-engagement drive since the assumption of office by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in November 2017.
This development comes on the back of violent demonstrations by the MDC Alliance and NGO-sponsored hoodlums during the January 14-16 2019 so-called ‘protests’ which were, in fact, part of a broader regime change agenda in Zimbabwe.
Security forces reacted swiftly to cull the shocking violence that left a trail of destruction on innocent citizens’ property whose assets were either looted or destroyed by the marauding ‘protestors’ while police vehicles and stations were not spared either.
But the violence that was there for all to see has done little to quench the West’s thirst to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
Instead, they have decided to continue with their fight against Harare, in the process sending a chilling message to liberation movements in Africa to deter them from owning and controlling land and empowering their own citizens.
Unsurprisingly, the EU Parliament has chosen to turn a blind eye on the violence that was initiated and instigated by the MDC Alliance apparatchiks and their allies in the civil society, buttressing intelligence reports that the demonstrations were indeed aimed at removing ZANU PF from power through means outside the ballot box.
This publication was told this week by impeccable sources in the MDC Alliance and the civil society that a handsome amount to the tune of US$2 million has been availed for more demonstrations ‘to force the regime to the negotiating table.’
The slush fund has already started finding its way to some local media houses and editors (names withheld) as well as the civil society, to make the country ungovernable.
Addressing a well attended ZANU PF Thank You rally in Rutenga, Masvingo, on Saturday last week, President Mnangagwa said Government was aware of a renewed bid by the MDC Alliance and its allies to make the country ungovernable.
That the MDC Alliance, together with their allies, have been working hand-in-glove with their Western handlers to cause mayhem in Zimbabwe is now an open secret.
Typically, fake reports have been published to attract more funding from the West and force Government to the ‘negotiating’ table.
The West has been clamouring for another Government of National Unity (GNU) or a National Transitional Authority (NTA) whose idea the likes of prominent quislings like regime change outfit SAPES Trust leader Ibboston Joseph Mandaza have been pushing for since 2013.
Buoyed by the ‘success’ of the January 14-16 2019 ‘demonstrations’ and backed by financial, physical and moral support from the West, the MDC Alliance is planning to launch another demonstration in the next few weeks.
Their plan involves what they call a ‘sit in’ which will be followed by a march to State House to ‘remove’ ED from power.
The plan is being supported by civil society organisations like Amani Trust, Counselling Service Unit and the Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights, with the likes of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and ZCTU in tow.
In Rutenga, President Mnangagwa unravelled the fresh plan by the MDC Alliance and their NGO allies.
“Nyika yedu yeZimbabwe, vatakabvisira chingwa pamuromo vachena, havasati varegera kurwisa kuti chingwa chidzoke pamuromo yavo nenzira dzakasiyana,” said President Mnangagwa.
“There are puppets that they have been creating in the country that move around preaching violence. We in ZANU PF want unity and development of our country.
“If our chiefs preach unity, our churches preach unity and our party ZANU PF preaches unity, our country will develop; there is nothing that will take us back.
“Because in areas like Bulawayo, people were moving around telling others that you must engage in violence and anyone who gets arrested will have legal representations and there are lawyers waiting to assist.
“They were saying there are doctors waiting to treat those that get injured.
“We are going after those doctors and nurses.”
There is much more to this latest attempt by the EU to interfere in the country’s internal affairs.
This is a soft war that is primarily driven by a chronic fear of a wave of resistance that is erupting across Africa against Western imperialism.
That fear is emanating from well-founded grounds; that the spirit of the liberation struggle is being invoked.
The success of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform and Resettlement and Economic Empowerment Programmes, whose results are visible all over, is a threat to the EU and the US’ overall goal of recolonising Africa and maintaining a slave mentality against Africans.
Liberation movements across the continent pose a serious threat to the EU and the US’ agenda of maintaining their hegemonic control of the continent.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki was on point when he said, during a SADC Summit in Dar es Salaam in March 2007, that:
“The fight against Zimbabwe is a fight against us all.
“Today it is Zimbabwe, tomorrow it will be South Africa, it will be Mozambique, it will be Angola, it will be any other African country.
“And any government that is perceived to be strong and to be resistant to imperialists would be made a target and would be undermined.
“So tell us not to allow any point of weakness in the solidarity of SADC, because that weakness will also be transferred to the rest of Africa.”
Compounding the EU and the US fears is the emergence of China and Eurasia as powerful economies that are supporting the African cause which does not bode well for the West’s prospects of maintaining a stranglehold on Africa.
And the genesis of the sanctions makes interesting reading.
The major event marking the genesis of sanctions was the pronouncement by the Zimbabwean Government to legalise the allotment of the land through a constitutional amendment.
In September 1998, Zimbabwe held the Land Donor Conference at the then Sheraton Hotel (now Rainbow Towers) which, however, proved futile and Zimbabweans took it upon themselves to remove the white minority who were owning and controlling the larger share of the country’s land.
There was more.
In April 2000, the Parliament of Zimbabwe passed Constitutional Amendment Number 16 which legalised the acquisition of land by black people.
In response, the EU conveyed to Zimbabwe its decision to impose illegal sanctions on February 18 2002.
The EU listed the following as reasons for the imposition of the sanctions:
- Suspension of the budgetary support under Zimbabwe’s 7th and 8th EDF National Indicative Programmes (NIPs);
- Suspension of financial support for all projects, except those in direct support of the population;
- Re-orientation of financial support to assist the population;
- Suspension of the signature of the 9th EDF NIP;
- Suspension of Annex 2 of Article 12 of the Cotonou Agreement insofar as required for the application of restrictive measures adopted on the basis of the Treaty establishing the EC; and
- Evaluation of regional projects on a case-by-case basis.
- An embargo on the sale, supply or transfer of arms and of technical advice, assistance or training related to military activities, and the sale or supply of equipment which could be used for internal repression; and
- A travel ban on persons who engage in serious violations of human rights and of the freedom of opinion, of association and of peaceful assembly in Zimbabwe and a freezing of their funds, other financial assets or economic resources.
The EU also announced that it would cut off €128m in development aid for the 2002-2007 period.
The EU sanctions agreement was widely viewed a success for Jack Straw, the then British Foreign Secretary, who had been battling for months to persuade his colleagues to take a tougher line.
The French, the Greeks and the Portuguese had been reluctant to intervene in what was seen as a spat between Britain and a former colony.
“Economic sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe have never been an issue,” Straw said.
Prior to that, the US had, on December 21 2001, imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.
The then Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Chester Crocker, had implored US Senators to have the stomach for imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Said Crocker in September 2001:
“To separate that man Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF from the people of Zimbabwe we have to impose sanctions on them, and I hope you Senators have the stomach for what we are about to do.”
White commercial farmers naturally took exception to Zimbabwe’s decision to embark on the revolutionary Land Reform and Resettlement Programme.
In 2007, a group of white farmers, represented by Mike Campbell and Ben Freeth, approached the now defunct SADC Tribunal to appeal against the historic and heroic land indigenisation programme.
The bench which was filled with colonialists ruled in their favour, in the process ignoring Zimbabwean laws which were explicit on issues to do with the Land Reform and Resettlement agenda.
But the Americans are still not deterred.
According to the 2018 amended ZDERA (now ZDERAA):
“It is the sense of Congress that the Government of Zimbabwe and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should enforce the SADC tribunal rulings from 2007 to 2010, including 18 disputes involving employment, commercial, and human rights cases surrounding dispossessed Zimbabwean commercial farmers and agricultural companies.”
Yet Zimbabwe had made clear under Section 295 of the Constitution that it would only allow compensation to indigenous Zimbabweans and those under Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPPAs).
White farmers were “…entitled to compensation from the State only for improvements that were on the land when it was acquired”.
A 2009 paper by Heather Chingono titled ‘Zimbabwe Sanctions: An Analysis of the ‘Lingo’ Guiding the Perceptions of the Sanctioners and the Sanctionees’ provides some useful indicators on the lies that have been peddled by the US on their sanctions against Zimbabwe.
The paper says in part:
“US sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are comprehensive and economic in nature since they have caused adverse economic costs both on the economy and the masses. Their argument is strongly supported and revolves around the US enactment of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (herein after referred to as ZDERA) specifically contained in Section 4c, titled ‘Multilateral Financial Restric1’. Until the President makes the Certification described in subsection (d)… the Secretary of the Treasury executive director to each of the international financial institutions to oppose or vote gainst 1) An extension by the respective institutions of any loan, credit or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe or 2) Any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution 25.
Against this background, ZDERA subtly marked the beginning of economic sanctions on Zimbabwe. Although the original motive was to ‘support the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve broad-based and equitable economic growth and restore the rule of law 26, the introduction of ZDERA ended up inadvertently affecting the ordinary helpless citizens.”
It is important to note that by 2018, the EU had instituted restricted measures against governments, individuals and other entities in 15 African states; namely Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea–Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
But it will be the EU and its American cousins who will be thrown into disarray over their failed sanctions policy.
ZANU PF has, over the years, banked on support from its traditional strongholds — the rural areas where the majority bore the brunt of the war of liberation.
Imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe is tantamount to starting another war with the rural folk who, when all is said and done, have principally driven the country’s economy since the imposition of sanctions.
The EU and the US must therefore prepare themselves for yet another embarrassing and morale-sapping defeat in the 2023 elections because this sanctions war is not against President Mnangagwa and his administration — it is a bruising war against the people of Zimbabwe.
And the people of Zimbabwe will not take this lying down.
They will stand up through their revered vote to defend their land, their mines and their country against any form of recolonisation.