US stance on Zim unfortunate, regrettable

THE United States Government’s decision to renew an albeit amended Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) — a piece of legislation that was first imposed on the country in 2001 — is both unfortunate and regrettable at it negates the huge strides made by both countries to normalise relations.

President Donald Trump signed into law the amended Zidera Bill last week, dashing hopes of re-engagement with Zimbabwe which had started following the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe. The hardline taken by the US comes in the wake of the landslide victory secured by the ruling Zanu-PF party and its presidential candidate Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa in the July 30 harmonised elections.

In the run up to the elections, the US had sent two senators — Messrs Jeff Flake (Republican) and Chris Coons (Democrat) — who are members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee — to Harare to engage the Government over amendments to the sanctions Bill. They proposed multiple prescriptive reforms as a precondition for re-engagement with Zimbabwe but the conditions were eerily similar to demands made by the MDC Alliance through its Plan and Environment for A Credible Election (Peace) document that was launched by its presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa just before the elections. Mr Chamisa and fellow principal in the MDC Alliance coalition, Mr Tendai Biti, including Mr Dewa Mavhinga — the director of Human Rights Watch in Southern Africa, a nongovernmental organisation — appeared before the same US senate committee on December 13 last year and urged the US government to maintain the current sanctions regime on Harare.

In a statement prefacing the “revised” sanctions legislation, the two US senators said the new Bill outlines “expectations of the steps President Mnangagwa and other leaders should take” before the sanctions were lifted. “After 37 years of suffering under the repressive rule of Robert Mugabe, the people of Zimbabwe should be excited about the possibility of a brighter future. To ensure conditions throughout the country improve, the international community should insist on concrete actions from the new government of Zimbabwe before lifting sanctions and renewing investment in the country,” said Senator Coons in the joint statement from the senators.

“This bill is intended to outline the US Senate’s expectations of the steps President Mnangagwa and other leaders should take. Most of the conditions attached to the conditions for re-engagement are outlined in Section 4 of the new law. The US wanted Government to release a biometric voters’ roll that would be endorsed by all political parties and “an independent electoral management body, whose members are selected by all political parties”.

The new law also indicates that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) were “neither permitted to actively participate in campaigning for any candidate nor to intimidate voters, and must verifiably and credibly uphold their constitutionally mandated duty to respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all persons and be non-partisan in character”.

International observers, it says, should have been allowed to observe the entire electoral process. Further, the Government was expected to acknowledge human rights abuses, including ordering “an immediate inquiry into the disappearance of prominent human rights activists, including Patrick Nabanyama, Itai Dzamara, and Paul Chizuze”. Following the holding of free, credible and fair elections which have been endorsed by Sadc, the African Union and most observer missions from all over the world, the US has shown that it is not interested in normalising relations with Zimbabwe but is bent on ensuring the continuation of the suffering of ordinary people under the yoke of sanctions.

President Mnangagwa’s Government has bent over backwards to accommodate most of the demands made by the US but it seems this has not been enough to placate an intransigent Trump administration which appears inclined to the MDC Alliance.

American senators have swallowed the argument from the MDC that sanctions can only be lifted if the opposition wins elections and this cannot be fair. The people of Zimbabwe have a right to elect a Government of their choice and cannot be dictated to by politicians in Washington who have no clue about the situation in the country.

While maintaining cordial relations with the US is important, there is a limit to which Zimbabwe can acquiescence to the unreasonable demands coming from Washington if it is to maintain its territorial integrity and national pride. Besides, the country has vast natural resources which it can use to build long lasting and mutually beneficial relations with other important countries in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and Europe. Instead of mourning the renewal of sanctions by the US, Zimbabweans should be looking at ways of leveraging on the strong ties in Sadc, the AU, China, Russia and the burgeoning relations being re-established with Britain and some EU states.

The starting point is maintaining a stable and peaceful country conducive for foreign investment. The rest will sort itself out.