Why the US has maintained sanctions on Mnangagwa, his wife and Tagwirei

Godwin Matanga (Matanga) is the Commissioner-General of the ZRP. Under his leadership, ZRP members have participated in ferret team activities. 

Matanga, who has led the ZRP since 2018, was identified in the Annex to E.O. 13391 on November  23, 2005 and is designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is or has been a leader or official of an entity that has, or whose members have, engaged in serious human rights abuse relating to the leader’s or official’s tenure.

Stephen Mutamba (Mutamba) has been a Deputy Commissioner-General of the ZRP since at least 2019. Under his leadership, ZRP members have engaged in the violent oppression of political opposition.

OFAC designated Mutamba on September 15, 2022 pursuant to E.O. 13469 for his role in undermining Zimbabwe’s democratic processes and institutions. He is designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is or has been a leader or official of an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse relating to the leader’s or official’s tenure.

Walter Tapfumaneyi (Tapfumaneyi) has been the Deputy Director General of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) since 2020. He reportedly answers directly to Mnangagwa, and led the campaign to disrupt the 2023 electoral process through his leadership of ruling party-affiliated groups. He is also alleged to have been personally involved in past kidnappings.  

Tapfumaneyi is designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is or has been a leader or official of an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human rights abuse relating to the leader’s or official’s tenure.

Owen Ncube (Ncube) was Zimbabwe’s Minister of State Security from 2018 to 2022, during which time he ordered security services to identify, abduct, and mistreat individuals assessed to be supporters of a Zimbabwean opposition group. He was recently reappointed to government as the Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs. He is reported to lead a notoriously violent group that is alleged to be responsible for attacks and killings around Kwekwe, Zimbabwe.

Ncube was designated on March 11, 2020 pursuant to E.O. 13469 for being responsible for, or participating in, human rights abuses related to political repression in Zimbabwe. Ncube is designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person that is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse. 

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, E.O. 13818 was issued on December 20, 2017, in recognition that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity as to threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons. 

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