Zanu PF Namibia calls for lifting of sanctions on Zim

The Zanu PF local branch called for the immediate lifting of economic sanctions on Zimbabwe imposed by the European Union and the United States.

The sanctions were imposed in 2002 during the regime of former president Robert Mugabe. The US first imposed sanctions, including financial and travel restrictions, in 2003 against the late Mugabe, members of his inner circle and state companies over allegations of human rights abuses and rigged elections. President Emmerson Mnangagwa blamed the sanctions for Zimbabwe’s economic ills and says they are intended to remove his party from power. Professor Lovemore Matipira said as Zanu PF Namibia district, they remain deeply concerned with the continued renewal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the

EU and US. The sanctions have inflicted severe negative impact on ordinary Zimbabweans, crippled the economy, and destabilised the SADC region through social pressure into already stretched economies.

Matipira said they recognise the impact the sanctions have created on the financial sector in Zimbabwe, adding the resultant effect has negatively restricted financial support to the country thereby hindering economic recovery.

“The current government led by His Excellency Comrade Emmerson Mnangagwa has adopted a policy of re-engagement with the international community, land compensation, various political and economic reforms, inter alia as a means of addressing the impact of the causes of the protracted war. These are measures meant to address the cause for the imposition of the sanctions against the country. The measures alone are enough to justify the removal of sanctions,” Matipira stressed.

Zanu PF Namibia feels it is therefore time to witness the socio-economic transformation and economic development of the country in a free sanction environment. Equally, he said, it resonates with all level-headed minds that the rationale of imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe remains unwarranted and misdirected.