A critical look at the revocation of US sanctions on Zimbabwe while maintaining ZDERA- By Jonathan Moyo

VII. Conclusion

(i)  It is understandable but unfortunate that, by and large, the public domain response to Biden’s 4 March 2024 Executive Order 14118 which terminated the 21-year-old ‘situation of national emergency” in Zimbabwe declared against the country by the US, has been more instinctive and opinionated than rational, informed or informing.

Regardless of what one might think about Biden’s order, it is obvious that its formulation took considerable intellectual effort by US government policy analysts and their usual consultants from academia, resources and time; to warrant better considered and commensurate responses to match the geopolitics behind the order.

Undoubtedly, Executive Order 14118 is important, significant and essentially positive for Zimbabwe although, predictably, it was announced with negatives that are potentially harmful to Zimbabwe’s sovereign interests and national security considerations and which, therefore, require special attention.

(ii) Much of the public domain commentary in the wake of Biden’s revocation of Executive Order 13288 of 6 March 2003; Executive Order 13391 of 22 November 2005 and Executive 13469 of 25 July 2008, which were all ordered by George W. Bush, has focussed on what some commenters – especially social media influencers – are claiming are ‘new sanctions’ and ‘hard hitting’ US sanctions that are targeted at designated individuals and entities under the politically acclaimed ‘Magnitsky Global Sanctions Program’.

This follows the designation of 11 individuals and three commercial entities by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for their alleged involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuse.

After 23 years of seeking regime change in Zimbabwe under Zdera and 21 years under executive orders which are in fact enabled by Zdera, through imposing sanctions that ostensibly target individuals when they actually target Zimbabwe as a nation-state, the US has learnt nothing.

While the US makes all sorts of self-indulgent claims about its purported fight for human rights and against corruption, it nevertheless continues to use imperialist schemes like the Magnitsky global sanctions to target individuals in pursuit of its foreign policy goals, as has been the case under Zdera, without affording the targeted individuals the due process of law. In the US scheme of things, the targeted individuals are guilty of human rights abuses and corruption merely and only by dint of the accusations that the US levels against the individuals, as repeated and peddled by the barking of US running dogs in the targeted country.

The foregoing is the context and background of the Magnitsky sanctions, whose 4 March 2024 list on Zimbabwean individuals and commercial entities is divided into three parts; the first being the first couple, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, first sanctioned on 6 March 2003, and Mrs Auxillia Mnangagwa, sanctioned for the first time, last week.

Next is the second part headed, “Corrupt Business Network” which lists Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei, first sanctioned on 5 August 2020;  his wife Sandra Mpunga, first sanctioned on 12 December 2022; Obey Chimuka, first sanctioned on 12 December 2022; Sakunda Holdings, first sanctioned on 5 August 2020; Fossil Agro, a Sakunda Holdings subsidiary, first sanctioned on 12 December 2022; and Fossil Contracting, first sanctioned on 12 December 2022.

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