Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU PF, has said the inclusion of new names on the United States of America’s sanctions list is an attack on prospects of normalising relations between the two countries.
The USA added President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son, Emmerson Mnangagwa Junior and other individuals onto the sanctions list allegedly to force the government of the southern African country to enhance good governance.
Others added to the list are business tycoon Kuda Tagwirei’s wife, Sandra Mpunga, Nqobile Magwizi, and Obey Chimuka, as well as associated firms Fossil Agro and Fossil Contracting.
ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa described the sanctioning of the group as an insult to the former allies’ spirit to mend bridges. He told ZimLive:
The inclusion of new names on the illegal sanctions is yet another unfortunate…step as Zimbabwe and Washington strive to normal bilateral relations.
It is clear that there are figures in the American Political Establishment who hanker for the moribund post-colonial relations with the African continent. This wrong move is in contrast to the spirit of the second and ongoing Africa-USA Summit in Washington.
This welcome yet belated Summit speaks of a USA that is revising its policy so as to treat Africa and its member nations on equal peer-to-peer basis as behoves sovereign nations in the ambit of the United Nations System.
All African guest nations presently in Washington are speaking in unison against the arbitrary and unilateral sanctions that hamstring Zimbabwe’s economic development.
The sense of outrage is more glaring when the sanctions are imposed outside of the United Nations ambit.
They purposely serve to upend humanity’s goal of shared development prospects. People of goodwill hope and pray for a more positive and helpful inclination by Washington in the endeavour to overcome the residual gripes and needless rancour as the America government deals with Zimbabwe and Africa at large.
Over the last two decades, the ZANU PF government has blamed sanctions for derailing the country’s economic recovery path, claiming the measures have caused untold economic, socio-economic, and social suffering among ordinary citizens.
However, the U.S. government, on the other hand, blames the ZANU PF-led administration for presiding over rampant state corruption, mismanagement of the country’s resources, and gross human rights violations.