On March 4, the United States (US) government-imposed
sanctions on Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, his wife Auxilia,
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei along with
his wife, Sandra Mpunga, senior government officials, and alleged business
partners, for corruption—siphoning off public resources for personal gain—and
human rights abuses.
This overhaul scraps the old executive sanction order
introduced in 2003 and replaces it with the Global Magnitsky sanctions program,
focusing directly on the top individuals responsible for corruption and human
rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
“These illicit activities support and contribute to a
global criminal network of bribery, smuggling, and money laundering that
impoverish communities in Zimbabwe, southern Africa, and other parts of the
world,” said Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo in a statement.
The US assured that “sanctions on these individuals and
entities do not represent sanctions on Zimbabwe or its public,” but local
analysts indicated that not much would change to end the suffering of
Zimbabweans or the targeting of human rights activists.
“We, the downtrodden masses, believe that the targeted
sanctions have not worked against the Regime. In reality, sanctions have been
used by the corrupt and failing government as an excuse for its own failures,”
said Future Msebele, a political analyst, in an interview with CITE.
Msebele said Zanu PF bigwigs have developed a “complicated
network of syndicates” to burst or bypass the sanctions and have continued to
loot the state coffers.
“There are many loopholes, weak enforcement of the sanctions, no clear strategy, and a weak communication of the political objectives have undermined the effectiveness of the sanctions,” said the political analyst.
“We are still at the same point, if not worse off. We still
have human rights abuses, we are still calling for political and electoral
reforms. It is time to think of alternative ways to deal with corrupt regimes.
Sanctions have proven to be ineffective, and the achievement of primary
political objectives has remained elusive.”
Another political analyst, Bernard Magugu, concurred that
“nothing has changed except that the sanctions were updated,” yet the political
and economic situation in the country remains “critical.”
“The sanctions were lifted from a number of people who were
in power before, and there is now a distinction between these small fish from
the past, and top targets who are leading now,” Magugu said, noting that
President Mnangagwa’s spokesperson, George Charamba, on his social media
account has also hinted there was nothing new since the President and his
Deputy, have always been under US sanctions.
The presidential spokesperson has said “it is misleading
for the media to use yesterday’s slanderous statement from US’s OFAC office on
the two, alongside other Zimbabweans, to create an impression this is a new
development. Simply, it is not, with US hostilities continuing amidst
yesterday’s tokenism.”
Magugu said that looking at Charamba’s comments on a social
media platform, the Zimbabwean government was not really shaken.
“Another point to factor in is the removal of the 2003
Executive Order, which was repeatedly renewed in subsequent years highlighting
human rights and democratic reforms, shows that the influence of civic society
organisations, activists, or opposition politicians is dwindling, which is a
setback for the country. This may mean that human rights violations will
continue unabated,” Magugu said.
On the other hand, Iphithule Maphosa, said that as much as
the sanctions regime seems like they hurt the principals less, the US was
making a clear point that they were still not receptive to Mnangagwa.
“This may hurt his reputation because the world, even
though they accepted the presidential result—in other words, they can’t change
the election result—they don’t want to be associated with someone who rigs
elections. This also means that the world cannot stomach having him take on a
third term,” said the opposition politician. CITE
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