Chief Murinye (Mr Ephias Munodawafa) on Tuesday told US
Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Brian Nichols that illegal economic sanctions imposed
by his country on Zimbabwe should be removed as they were hurting ordinary
people.
Chief Murinye, who was giving a vote of thanks at the end
of a signing ceremony for US$475 000 availed by the US government through the
Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) at Great Zimbabwe Monuments,
said the US should consider the suffering of the people because of the
sanctions.
The chief, who graduated with a Law degree at the
University of Zimbabwe last year and under whose jurisdiction the Great
Zimbabwe Monument falls, told Mr Nichols to tell US President Mr Donald Trump
to remove the illegal economic blockade on Zimbabwe.
“My message to you (Ambassador Nichols) is that please tell
the great American President (Mr Donald) Trump to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe,”
said Chief Murinye, who is one of Masvingo’s prominent chiefs.
“Zimbabwe is reeling from those sanctions. Tell him to have
mercy on us and lift the sanctions.”
Chief Murinye’s take on the illegal sanctions had been
stoked by Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Ezra Chadzamira,
who had earlier called on the US administration’s financial assistance for the
preservation of Great Zimbabwe Monuments to be extended to the Zimbabwean
economy in general.
He said such financial assistance would help the country to
realise its developmental goals as envisioned by President Mnangagwa’s
administration, which seeks to make Zimbabwe an upper-middle income economy by
2030.
“I cannot agree further with what the Minister of State has
said in his speech. You can cut a limb to save a life, but you cannot take
away life to save a limb. Our economy is our life and lifeline,” said Chief Murinye.
Speaking to the media after Chief Murinye’s speech,
Minister Chadzamira said the traditional leader was right to call for the
lifting of the illegal sanctions on Harare by Washington.
“Yes, he (Chief Murinye) is right, the illegal sanctions
should be removed. They (US government) cannot give us support (the AFCP) on
one side, but on the other the country is reeling from an illegal economic
blockade imposed by it,” said Minister Chadzamira.
He dismissed allegations that Chief Murinye had used the
wrong platform to talk about US sanctions, saying the economic embargo was
stifling development in the country.
Zimbabwe has been reeling under the ruinous sanctions
imposed by the West led by the US nearly 20 years ago.
Washington enacted the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Act (ZIDERA), which has been renewed on an annual basis by successive
US Presidents since 2001 in response to country’s land reform programme.
ZIDERA orders US representatives in international financial
institutions to vote against any move to extend financial lines of credit to
Zimbabwe among other things.
President Mnangagwa has since expressed his
administration’s readiness to engage and re-engage the world to restore
Zimbabwe to its place on the table of nations under the Second Republic.Herald
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