We must believe in ourselves to win the fight against sanctions Mnangagwa says

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa today said Zimbabweans must believe in themselves to win the fight against sanctions.

Writing in his weekly column in the Sunday Mail, Mnangagwa said those who imposed sanctions on the country need a lot more than sheer pleas and persuasion.

“To win this fight against illegal sanctions, we must fully believe in ourselves and in our capabilities as a people. That vital sense of self-belief, buttressed by national unity and solidarity from friends and allies, makes us invincible,” he said. 

“From the early phase of our struggle for Independence, we now know that agitation alone, interspersed with periodic appeals delivered from rostrums of international forums like the United Nations, will not deliver on our quest for full sovereignty and self-determination. 

“Our enemies need a lot more than sheer pleas and persuasion. They need to see us forging ahead in spite of their sanctions, to hear and respect us. We have to show real determination to beat those sanctions, and to prosper our people and nation under the adverse conditions they create.”

Below is the full article:

IN 10 days’ time, Zimbabwe joins the rest of the southern African region, Africa and the progressive world in marking the Sadc-declared Anti-Sanctions Day, which is on 25th October each year.

We remain eternally grateful to His Excellency Joseph Pombe Magufuli, the late President of the United Republic of Tanzania, for initiating the decision which led to the landmark adoption of this commemorative day. May his dear soul rest in eternal peace. Similarly, we deeply thank the Tanzanian government and its people for tirelessly taking a leading role each year, in the commemoration of this day.

October 25 is a day through whose Sadc-wide activities we remind the world of the injustices committed against the Zimbabwean people. We also use such commemoration to stir the conscience of those guilty of imposing those unjust sanctions against our people. Above all, we use the day to mobilise African and world opinion against these unilateral, illegal sanctions, which amount to a challenge and an affront to our sovereignty.

Since the imposition of those spiteful, illegal sanctions, more than almost two-and-half decades ago, Zimbabwe has since evolved. From indignant political protests which marked the first two decades of those punitive measures, our response as a nation has grown and transformed to the positive action of pulling ourselves by our bootstraps.

This new stance which we adopted soon after the advent of the Second Republic plays out alongside the traditional broad-based agitation and resolute campaign against those illegal sanctions, coupled with increased efforts to engage and exert diplomatic pressure on those who designed and unleashed those punitive measures on us. That way, we have been able to organise and mobilise ourselves internally, while still pursuing a dual policy of agitation, engagement and re-engagement. Engagement allows us to win to our side new friends and allies against those heinous sanctions; re-engagement enables us to continue dialoguing with those responsible for those sanctions which were visited on us unilaterally, and outside the norms and authority of the United Nations.

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