THE recent admission by Econet Wireless and the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) that sanctions were harming the economy of this country is a truism that at face value might be seen as a weakening of the regime change agenda by the West.
For according to former US Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker, sanctions were meant to make Zimbabwean economy ‘scream’ as a way of separating President Mugabe from his people.
This is the same philosophy shared by Britain and her European Union (EU) allies.
To sanitise their evil design, the West has lied to the rest of the world that the sanctions were targeted to individuals.
The West went further by using their sponsored surrogate, the MDC-T, as their vanguard on the home front to canvass for support for their illegal sanctions.
Believe it or not, but the MDC-T found considerable support from some sections of the business community and civil society organisations run by Zimbabweans.
These are organisations which opted to ignore the devastating effects the illegal sanctions had on the economy so long as they would help to see the Western- sponsored MDC-T get into power.
They were prepared to drink from the poisoned chalice as they seemed to believe the end would justify the means.
The July 31 harmonised poll results shattered their dreams.
Sanctions or no sanctions, Zimbabweans demonstrated that they would never sell their heritage, by voting overwhelmingly for ZANU PF.
This is the genuine indigenous political party, which has been unflinching in its condemnation of the illegal sanctions.
The people’s decision seems to have forced some of those who had been hoodwinked by MDC-T to rethink.
Among those we have Econet Wireless and NANGO, who have gone public in admitting that sanctions are real and are hurting the economy of the country.
NANGO treasurer, Mr Paul Juru was recently quoted as saying: “We recognise that there are sanctions in the country.
“They are real and those people that are vulnerable are at the receiving end.”
And such public utterance from a group that was known until last week for its unwavering support of the regime change agenda during the campaign for the July 31 polls!
Strive Masiyiwa has been known to be a sympathiser of the MDC-T and this seemed to explain until recently, Econet Wireless’ silence on the effects of sanctions.
Last week, the country’s top performing blue chip company confessed that sanctions were hurting its operations.
Now if a global conglomerate like Econet Wireless can feel the pinch, what more with smaller companies in Zimbabwe.
Nevertheless, all this serves to expose Western rhetoric that sanctions are targeted to individuals for what it is – puerile lies.
We now await to see how sincere both NANGO and Econet Wireless are in their ‘sudden’ realisation that sanctions have wreaked havoc on the economy of the country.
For a start we expect much more noise from NANGO in their condemnation of sanctions.
Already our case on the illegal sanctions is before the European Court and this is an expensive exercise.
We would welcome Econet’s concern if the conglomerate would chip in with some cash as Zimbabwe argues its case.
This is only one of many ways Econet could demonstrate its sincerity.
Justification of the illegal sanctions has been the pillar of the regime change agenda.
Utterances by NANGO and Econet Wireless may indeed be mere lip service.
However, the least they have achieved is to leave the regime change armour bullet riddled.