COMMENT: Sanctions must be removed now!

The Chronicle

SADC countries will on Tuesday join Zimbabwe to commemorate the Anti-Sanctions Day. In 2019, Sadc Heads of State and Government proclaimed October 25 as a day of solidarity with the Zimbabwean people against sanctions. On this day member states engage in different activities to mark the Sadc Anti-Sanctions Day.

Sadc, the AU and the rest of the progressive world are agreed that the illegal sanctions have had devastating effects on the lives of Zimbabweans.

Sadc has said the lifting of the sanctions will facilitate Zimbabwe’s socio-economic recovery and enable the country to meet its national and regional economic development plans as well as effectively manage its international obligations.

Zimbabwe has, as a result of the illegal sanctions, been finding it difficult to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) which is key in global rebuilding of economies.

Apart from discouraging foreign investors from coming to Zimbabwe, the sanctions have seen many local companies failing to retool or get working capital.

It is a fact that the sanctions have not only affected Zimbabwe but the entire Sadc region. President Mnangagwa wil lead Zimbabwe’s Anti-Sanctions Day commemorations that will be punctuated by solidarity marches, speeches and an all-night gala.

On Monday, Zimbabwe will host the Sadc Anti-Sanctions Solidarity Summit 2022 (SASS 2022).

Zimbabwe has been under illegal sanctions imposed on the country by United States of America, Britain and their allies for the past 22 years as punishment for implementing the land reform programmes which corrected the skewed land ownership that favoured the minority Whites.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

Calls for unconditional removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe are becoming louder with each passing day.

Recently South African President Cyril Ramaphosa took the issue of the illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe direct to White House where he told the US President Joe Biden that the sanctions are adversely affecting the economies of the entire Sadc region.

President Ramaphosa who was on a State visit to the US, raised the issue of sanctions against Zimbabwe during his meeting with Mr Biden.

President Ramaphosa said during his meeting with Mr Biden, he made it clear that the sanctions were not only affecting Zimbabwe but the entire Sadc region.

United States President Joe Biden

“We argued that the sanctions that have been imposed on Zimbabwe have a collateral damage on us as South Africa in the sense that they weaken the Zimbabwean economy resulting in Zimbabweans leaving their country in droves going to neighbouring countries such as SA, Botswana and Namibia,” said President Ramaphosa.

At the just-ended United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) many African leaders also called for the immediate removal of the sanctions which they said violate the country’s sovereignty and are a barrier to national development.

Senegal President Macky Sall

The leaders led by the African Union (AU) chairperson and Senegalese President Macky Sall, said the sanctions are worsening the economic and humanitarian situation in the country.

A United Nations special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Professor Alena Douhan who was in Zimbabwe last year on a fact-finding mission, said in her report that the sanctions had exacerbated Zimbabwe’s economic and humanitarian crisis.

Article Source: The Chronicle

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