Opinion / Columnist
SADC leaders 'united and emphatic on removal of sanctions' - what do they know, sanctions are staying
19 Aug 2019 at 11:27hrs | Views
In an exclusive interview with ZBC News on the sidelines of the ongoing 39th SADC Summit in Tanzania President Mnangagwa said he is pleased with the fruitful discussions at the summit regarding issues affecting the trading bloc.
"I'm happy that this time around SADC was unanimous on the need for economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe to be removed. The SADC Secretariat has been mandated to communicate the message to Africa Union which will communicate to the United Nations. The discussions were emphatic as the basis for sanctions are no-longer there anymore and they were illegal after all," he said.
So, SADC leaders discussions were emphatic on the removal of sanctions "as the basis for sanctions are no-longer there anymore". Really? I take it SADC leaders understood that failing to hold free, fair and credible elections was one of those reasons. Then these SADC leaders must also know that none of the western nations judged Zimbabwe's last year elections free, fair and credible. And so, the sanctions will stay.
Zimbabwe's economy is in total meltdown because of 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness. In 2015, former President Mugabe admitted Zimbabwe was "swindled" out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone. When he booted out of office in the November 2017 military coup, he still had not arrested even one swindler or recovered one dollar of the looted wealth. President Mnangagwa promised "zero tolerance on corruption" but he too has yet to arrest one diamond swindler.
Corruption is the main cause of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown by a long mile compared to any damage caused by sanctions.
President Mnangagwa blatantly rigged last year's elections and the nation is building a head of steam to pressure the regime to step down because only then can the nation appoint a competent interim administration tasked to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections. The sanctions are just one more way of piling up the pressure on the regime. The sanctions will remain!
"I'm happy that this time around SADC was unanimous on the need for economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe to be removed. The SADC Secretariat has been mandated to communicate the message to Africa Union which will communicate to the United Nations. The discussions were emphatic as the basis for sanctions are no-longer there anymore and they were illegal after all," he said.
So, SADC leaders discussions were emphatic on the removal of sanctions "as the basis for sanctions are no-longer there anymore". Really? I take it SADC leaders understood that failing to hold free, fair and credible elections was one of those reasons. Then these SADC leaders must also know that none of the western nations judged Zimbabwe's last year elections free, fair and credible. And so, the sanctions will stay.
Zimbabwe's economy is in total meltdown because of 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness. In 2015, former President Mugabe admitted Zimbabwe was "swindled" out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone. When he booted out of office in the November 2017 military coup, he still had not arrested even one swindler or recovered one dollar of the looted wealth. President Mnangagwa promised "zero tolerance on corruption" but he too has yet to arrest one diamond swindler.
Corruption is the main cause of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown by a long mile compared to any damage caused by sanctions.
President Mnangagwa blatantly rigged last year's elections and the nation is building a head of steam to pressure the regime to step down because only then can the nation appoint a competent interim administration tasked to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections. The sanctions are just one more way of piling up the pressure on the regime. The sanctions will remain!
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.com
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