The sanctions debate: myths, exaggeration and denial

In 2012, Tendai Biti, then MDC-T secretary general and Finance Minister, told a meeting in Washington that “your foreign policy as a country, as America, could be better towards Zimbabwe. You do not deal with very difficult, fragile states by disengagement, by isolation. It does not work”.

One side blames every problem on sanctions, while the other extremely denies their existence. The truth is, in fact, somewhere in the middle.

While sanctions have had an impact on Zimbabwe’s economy, they cannot be the main cause of economic decline.

Some 15 years after the first sanctions, ZANU-PF is even more entrenched in power than ever, and the sanctions have provided little else beyond propaganda fodder and excuses for the Mugabe government. The EU has progressively pared down on its measures, and is once again engaging Zimbabwe.

It is impossible to accurately measure the impact of sanctions. What is clearer though is that sanctions have provided a convenient excuse for the economic mismanagement of  resource-rich country.

What is also clear is that the measures, whether they be “general sanctions” or “targeted sanctions”, have failed so far to do what they set out to do; punish the Mugabe administration and force it to reform.

In a 2012 article, scholar Blessing Miles Tendi wrote: “The answer is that in 10 years sanctions have had no demonstrable effect on Mugabe and ZANU-PF. They have become an effective political tool for ZANU-PF instead.”- The Source

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