The United States’s sanctions on Zimbabwe, which have crippled the nation for more than two decades, are similar to apartheid South Africa destabilisation of Frontline States as this was aimed at entrenching the Frontline States’s dependency on South Africa.
Zimbabwe has lost billions of dollars because of sanctions and cannot access cheap loans for essential infrastructure such as roads.
Former minister Webster Shamusaid millions of Zimbabweans who are economically active, men and women of note left the country for the diaspora looking for employment opportunities and better standards of life which they have been deprived of due to the United States illegally sponsored sanctions.
Seconding the motion calling on the United States to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe, Shamu said: “Zimbabwe has lost billions of US dollars in revenue because of the illegal sanctions. The illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States of America have had a serious negative impact on the economic performance of Zimbabwe, as they not only affect the key productive sectors, which are the mining and agricultural sectors, but also put a negative tag on the country’s image leaving investors and donors less than willing to support the country through investment and aid respectively…….
“The American Government’s imposition of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe has no difference with what apartheid in South Africa as military aggression and destabilisation of the then Front-Line States did before apartheid was defeated. Billions of dollars and millions of lives were lost in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, in a calculated strategy designed to entrench economic dependency of the then Front-Line States on apartheid South African regime.
“They wanted to stop the Front-Line States from supporting the just struggle of the people of South Africa led by the African National Congress in their just fight against apartheid. The similarity of the evil activities of the United States of America to what apartheid South Africa did and was indeed defeated, lie in the fact that American Government does not want to see a politically and economically free Zimbabwe. They do not want to see us carry the revolution through to its logical conclusion which is complete control of the commanding heights of our economy.”
Frontline States were Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Full contribution:
HON. SHAMU: May I thank you for allowing me to add my voice in support of the motion moved by Hon. Mutodi, calling on the United States Government to repeal its Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery Act (ZIDERA). The sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe through ZIDERA are indeed illegal. These illegal sanctions were not supported or approved by the United Nations.
Mr. Speaker Sir, over the period 1980 until the end of 1997, Zimbabwe’s economic growth was only second to South Africa in Africa. Between the year 2001 to today, Zimbabwe has experienced serious challenges to its economic and social development due to the impact of the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States Government. I do agree and support the points raised by Hon. Mutodi, that poverty has been entrenched in the country, mainly affecting women, children, the elderly and disabled. Millions of Zimbabweans who are economically active, men and women of note left the country for the diaspora looking for employment opportunities and better standards of life which they have been deprived of due to the United States illegally sponsored sanctions.
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