The US ambassador to Zimbabwe has joined the UN and the International Monetary Fund in throwing down the gauntlet to President Emmerson Mnangagwa on corruption and human rights.
Brian Nichols said there was no chance of the world heeding Mnangagwa’s plea for the end of sanctions until Zimbabwe cleaned up its act.
Steps that were needed included implementing the recommendations of former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, who chaired a commission of inquiry into postelection violence in August 2018.
Six people died in the rioting.
The commission recommended compensation for the victims and their dependants.
A report this week by the UN special rapporteur on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, also deplored the government’s lack of commitment to issues that could lead to the removal of sanctions.
After a 10day visit, Voule said on Friday he had been confronted by deteriorating relations between the government and citizens.
“To foster impunity is to foster distrust among the population, alienating them from the government and quashing their hopes of meaningful change,” his report said.
The IMF has raised the red flag over alleged corruption involving a key Mnangagwa ally, Kuda Tagwirei of Sakunda Holdings.
It said the government had printed money to pay one of Tagwirei’s companies, in the process undermining the country’s fledgling currency.
The international pressure on Mnangagwa mounted as he attempted to convince the UN General Assembly that he had done enough to justify the lifting of sanctions imposed during the rule of Robert Mugabe.
“Those that impose illegal sanctions must heed this call and lift them now … Cooperation is a win-win game. Sanctions are a lose-lose game. Zimbabwe deserves a restart,” he told a poorly attended session in New York.
“It is high time government does a cleanup. What we need is a stable economic environment, so any measures meant to effect that are welcome,”
The Southern African Development Community is planning a day of solidarity against sanctions on Zimbabwe on October 25, before which Mnangagwa will address a ZANU-PF anti-sanctions march.
But Nichols said the country’s wounds were self-inflicted.
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