THERE are many things that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us.

One lesson stands tall in all this.

Strife has no limits or restraints.

When it visits a people, it is ruthless.

It wipes off anything that stands in its way.

All in all, it either makes or breaks a people. This is the situation staring us in the face.

A situation that calls on everyone to be proactive.

A situation that stretches economies, no matter how powerful or big they are.

We are in a situation where resources have been stretched.

Governments are using everything at their disposal to deal with the deadly pandemic.

Strenuous efforts are being from across the globe to counter the disease.

Day and night we are being confronted with terrible news.

Which brings us to yet another important lesson learnt from this scenario.

Now is certainly not the time to subject one another to bully tactics that we have been subjected to by global superpowers. Now is the time to put our heads together.

If we unite as a people and as a globe, we can conquer all adversities.

This is why we believe that the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the US and its allies must be removed as a matter of urgency.

Their effects, which have been felt by every Zimbabwean over the past two decades, are once again biting with more venom.

It is in times like these that we have to rely on our resources to contain the pandemic without having to rely on donations.

But that has not been possible because the sanctions have destroyed our economy.

That has not been possible because our economy has been persistently battered by sanctions.

That has also not been possible because our capacity to trade has been crippled by the sanctions.

Our competitiveness as a country has been severely weakened by the sanctions.

Lines of credit have been frozen because of the sanctions.

Our currency has effectively been rendered useless by the sanctions.

Even when our tertiary institutions have shown capacity to invent and produce internationally accepted goods and services, sanctions stand in the way.

As Zimbabweans, we should rise up and support the global campaign that has been initiated by our own Strive Masiyiwa to have the sanctions removed.

Several multilateral institutions have extended their hands to Africans in their fight against COVID-19 but Zimbabwe has been left out for very obvious reasons.

The West is angry about the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme.

They want the programme reversed.

But we know that in the unlikely event of that untenable situation ever happening, they will still come up with many more demands.

Our health systems have all but collapsed because of sanctions.

This is why we implore the sponsors of those sanctions to repair their damage.

We call upon Zimbabweans to join the fight against the embargo.

Let us all come together and send the message to the West that their sanctions are hurting us.

Now is not the time to play politics.

It is time to put the lives of the masses ahead.

Let us unite against the sanctions.