UK and USA major violators of human rights in Zimbabwe-former minister

Air Zimbabwe

Air Zimbabwe was suspended from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) billing and ticketing system. As a result, the airline cannot sell interline tickets or international tickets via travel agents or other airlines. In 2019, the Airline failed to comply with international airworthiness requirements and to access aircraft engineering maintenance services for an Embraer aircraft it had purchased due to ZIDERA related restrictions. Resultantly, the Airline was forced to ground the aircraft for at least 2 years.

Air Zimbabwe has, since the end of 2018, been unable to process payments in USD, Pound Sterling and the Euro to its suppliers and service providers due to ongoing de-risking activities by correspondent banks. The Airline has also been affected by non-voluntary bank accounts closures by most international banks it has previously traded with such as Standard Chartered New York, Barclays Bank London and Dresdner Bank Germany.

Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ)

CAAZ has been operating without a Radar and Surveillance system for the past 11 years because potential suppliers are reluctant to enter into business relations with an entity where the Zimbabwean Government is the beneficial owner for fear of violating coercive measures imposed on the country. This resulted in a number of foreign Airlines withdrawing services from Zimbabwe and these include Lufthansa Germany, British Airways, KLM Netherlands, Air France and Qantas Australia. Therefore, air transport lost almost 50% of traffic movements at its airports and airspace. In 1997, a total of 2,280,153 passengers were registered in Zimbabwe, but the number of passengers dropped by almost 63% to as low as 834,269 in 2003. These figures demonstrate retarded growth, lost employment opportunities and revenues, which had a direct impact on the tourism industry.

National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ)

The NRZ experienced a significant decline in serviceable rolling stock resulting in business volumes, declining from 12 million MT in the late 90’s to below 2.5 million MT to date. This loss of business translates to an average annual loss in business, amounting to USD133.1 million. As a result, the NRZ has laid off 5 200 employees, from a peak of 9 000 in year 2000 to 3 800, thereby compounding the unemployment situation prevailing in the country.

Tourism Industry

The Zimbabwean tourism sector has been adversely affected by the negative perceptions that are engendered by the unilateral coercive measures. Room occupancy plummeted from a high of 60% recorded in the late 90s to below 40% in 2000 and bottoming out at 34% in 2006. Zimbabwe also experienced a drastic reduction in the number of firms operating in the industry, declining from a peak of 118 in 2000 to 56 by 2005.The decline in tourist numbers is a result of bad publicity and the spill over effects of the impact of the coercive measures on the aviation sector, where the number of airlines entering Zimbabwe declined.

Zimbabwe lost a significant market share owing to travel warnings and restrictions. The western press generally portrayed Zimbabwe as an unsafe tourist destination with the UK, USA, Germany and Australia at various times issuing negative travel advisories. Travel advisories drastically reduced the number of tourist arrivals from the west.

Social Services Provision

Social services provision has not been spared from the negative effects of the coercive measures imposed on Zimbabwe; the sharp economic contraction severely constrained the Government’s ability to provide basic social services. As I have mentioned, if you want to separate people from their Government, you need to make sure that the economy should scream and these are some of the impacts. As a result, the country experienced a regression in key socio-economic indicators, such as gender empowerment, health services, water and sanitation, housing, education, food and nutrition and natural disaster preparedness and response among other key outcome areas. Accordingly, over 500 infrastructure projects were mothballed as a result of the financing challenges induced by the coercive measures. This has also contributed to an acute shortage of housing, as evidenced by the proliferation of informal settlements observed in urban centres.

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