The Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana has slammed the recent decision by the US to place local mogul Kuda Tagwirei and his company Sakunda under sanctions, The Herald reports.
Nick also said this latest development will not deter the government’s engagement efforts as he was speaking to the publication. Said Mangwana:
We don’t believe any Zimbabwean or any of its entities should be placed on any unilateral sanctions by any country. It’s wrong. It’s based on baseless social media chatter and devoid of logic.
It (imposition of sanctions) has no bearing for the re-engagement is the availability of avenues for conversation between parties. While the removal of sanctions is a deliverable of the Re-engagement Policy, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all of the policy.
Investment, trade, tourism and other partnerships are also very important and we have seen positive movements in those contexts.
Tagwirei was placed under sanctioned exactly 9 days after Zanu PF which he is believed to be a benefactor of came out guns blazing and called the American Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ambassador Brian Nichols a thug and threatened to expel him.
However, the US said it does not tolerate corruption and it was concerned about human rights abuse reports coming from Zimbabwe after the government threatened, arrested and tortured some of the would-be protestors, protest organisers and protestors.
More: The Herald