The USA and the EU full of crocodile tears

The July 31, 2013 harmonized elections came with ZANU PF condemning to the political dustbin the western-sponsored MDC-T party as the revolutionary party clearly got more than two thirds in parliament, giving it the mandate to rule for the coming five (5) years. As such, the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) as expected failed to endorse those elections as credible although a multiple of international organizations and countries endorsed them as free and fair.

 Such a failure by the USA and the EU to endorse the July 31, harmonized elections as free and fair, is just an indication that the two (USA and EU)  are always occupied by the big brother syndrome which makes them fail to see the reality. Their action is an insult to the intelligence of the Zimbabwean people who independently and freely elected ZANU PF to be in power for the coming five (5) years. The people by electing ZANU PF into office showed the world that they did not want to be led by the Morgan Tsvangirai-led puppet party.

In a democratic process if elections are held and then endorsed by international observers, there is no need for some of the international community countries to fail to respect the will of the people just because their preferred candidate or party has been defeated. In essence this is called chicanery and hypocrisy by those with a big brother mentality and so the USA and the EU stance on Zimbabwean politics should be dismissed with the contempt which it deserves.

Surprisingly, the USA through its ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton is trying to hoodwink Zimbabweans into believing that the country is eager to work with the ZANU PF government yet the USA still maintains sanctions on the same party which is in government. Bruce Wharton recently told a public debate at the Southern African Political Economy Series (SAPES) Trust in Harare that the US remained committed to the prosperity of Zimbabwe and would like to work with the ZANU PF government for the prosperity of the country. As if the move by the USA of trying to hoodwink the Zimbabweans into believing that it is sincere on the prosperity of the country, the EU failed to wholly remove sanctions on the country only to partially remove them when they were supposed to make sure that the country is rid off of such monster which has been an albatross on the people of Zimbabwe for more than a decade.

Such developments coming from the two major economic giants who have failed to endorse some harmonized elections as free and fair but at the same time trying to fool the Zimbabwe people into believing that they do care for them, give an interesting reading. The Zimbabwean people should realize that the USA and the EU are responsible for the suffering in which they are experiencing right now. The illegal sanctions which they imposed in the country more than a decade ago have not been doing any good to Zimbabwe. Their claim that the sanctions are targeted to certain members of the ruling party and their companies is not true as the results of the sanctions are not showing that. The USA`s claim that she wants to work closely with the ZANU PF government when the same country has imposed travel bans to such members is totally hypocritical.

How could the USA claim that it is prepared to work with government when it still maintains sanctions on the same ZANU PF leadership?  The USA is fooling the people of Zimbabwe by claiming yet the same country has failed to invite President Robert Mugabe to attend the forthcoming USA-Africa Summit to be held in that country later this year. The same country still excludes Zimbabwe from doing business with it through the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA), a trade agreement between African countries and the USA, which was enacted into law in 2000 by the Bill Clinton administration. AGOA says that African countries which are said to be observing human rights and also have good governance do qualify to do trade with America.

 As such, Zimbabwe has been excluded from that beneficiary lot as according to the Americans the country violates provisions of the AGOA. But close analysis of this could see that it was just a move by the Americans to make sure that they come up with such law in order to isolate Zimbabwe from other African countries as that law was enacted during the time when the country was going through the land reform program which was characterized by land invasions. The fact that the issue of human rights observation and the upholding of good governance have nothing to with business raises a lot of eyebrows as such issues cannot be hindrance in carrying out business with one another. If it was not meant to isolate Zimbabwe from other African countries when the country was taking back the land that was stolen from it, America should have told the world where the issue of business and good governance get connected here?

As if  AGOA was not enough to isolate the country from other African states, the USA  later enacted into law, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) in which this law criminalizes any American company doing or having trade agreements or business with Zimbabwean companies. All these laws have not been doing any good to the Zimbabwean people. So one wonders where the American sincerity is, when she is claiming that she wants to work with the people`s party when she still maintains those laws against the country. A horse and a rider relationships in business or social interactions is not go as that socialization is not attainable so the USA should be clear on what her claims of wanting to work with the ZANU PF government.

On another related issue, the EU just partially lifted sanctions imposed on the ZANU PF leadership as a way of trying to show the world that it is prepared to work with the people`s party. As such the EU should realise that partially lifting sanctions imposed on the revolutionary party would not do any good to the country but the sanctions should be wholly lifted as they are destroying the social fabric of the country.  It should be made clear that the illegal sanctions which have been in place for more than a decade are not hurting the said targeted individuals but the masses of Zimbabwe are at the receiving end because of these sanctions

The EU should be advised that sanctions have destroyed the business and social lives of the people and those who are said to have been targeted by these sanctions seem to be not affected by them. In actual fact those targeted individuals in ZANU PF are able to send their children even to most expensive institutions of higher learning in the country and even abroad but some ordinary people are failing to send their children to schools which are charging as little as fifteen dollars($15,00) per term. Now the EU should realise and acknowledge the fact that the targeted individuals are not being hurt by these sanctions but only ordinary people.

So the EU should stop playing political games with the people of Zimbabwe but should wholly lift sanctions so that the suffering brought by these sanctions among ordinary people is stopped. As to confirm that the targeted sanctions are sometimes not working against the so-called targeted individuals, the EU bloc has recently invited President Mugabe to attend the EU-Africa summit to be hosted by Brussels later this year. As such, such double standards by the EU should be enough reasons to make the bloc wholly lift sanctions imposed on the country so that it economically recovers from the downturn.

As such both the USA and the EU should wipe off those crocodile tears and become sincere on their dealings with Zimbabwe by wholly lifting sanctions imposed on the country so that things start normalizing again.

By Mukachana Hanyani, now a Chiredzi-based social and political commentator, who can be reached through mhanyani@yahoo.com.