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

That Zdera is a sanctions law was acknowledged upfront by the Congressional Budget Office in a cost estimate of the law when it was still a Bill on July 16, 2001, which observed that Zdera, “would support a transition to democracy and promote economic recovery in Zimbabwe through a set of incentives and sanctions.”

https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/107th-congress-2001-2002/costestimate/s49410.pdf

Just how can a law which, by the reckoning of the Congressional Budget Office, “would support a transition to democracy and promote economic recovery in Zimbabwe through a set of incentives and sanctions”, not be a sanction law?

For the avoidance of doubt, the visa restrictions and economic sanctions in Zdera are provided under the Act’s section 6 as shown below:

PUBLIC LAW 107–99—DEC. 21, 2001

The authority in this section supersedes any other provision of law.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN AGAINST INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE FOR VIOLENCE AND THE BREAKDOWN OF THE RULE OF LAW IN ZIMBABWE.

It is the sense of Congress that the President should begin immediate consultation with the governments of European Union member states, Canada, and other appropriate foreign countries on ways in which to—

(1) identify and share information regarding individuals responsible for the deliberate breakdown of the rule of law, politically motivated violence, and intimidation in Zimbabwe;

(2) identify assets of those individuals held outside Zimbabwe;

(3) implement travel and economic sanctions against those individuals and their associates and families; and,

(4) provide for the eventual removal or amendment of those sanctions.

Link: Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2024

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-107publ99

Given the above, anyone who says Zdera is not a sanctions law is either an ignorant or illiterate US propagandist masquerading as a US diplomat or a running dog of US propaganda and imperialism.

III. First and only US ‘Presidential Proclamation’ on Zimbabwe Sanctions made in 2002

Interestingly, after the enactment of Zdera as the enabling or mother law for the US sanctions on Zimbabwe as a country programme on 21 December 2001, and before the declaration of a national emergency on 6 March 2003 in Executive Order 13288, US President George W. Bush, issued a now seemingly or conveniently forgotten sanctions proclamation on 4 March 2002 as indicated below:

Zimbabwe Presidential Proclamation on Visa Restrictions

“In light of the political and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and the continued failure of President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean government officials, and others to support the rule of law, and given the importance to the United States of fostering democratic institutions in Zimbabwe, I have determined that it is in the interest of the United States to take all available measures to restrict the international travel and to suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or non-immigrants, of senior members of the government of Robert Mugabe and others detailed below who formulate, implement, or benefit from policies that undermine or injure Zimbabwe’s democratic institutions or impede the transition to a multi-party democracy.” George W Bush, 4 March 2002

https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/02/text/20020222-4.html

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