South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated calls for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Western powers.
Zimbabwe has been under targetted sanctions for over two decades after it compulsorily acquired land from white farmers and redistributed to landless blacks at the turn of the millennium.
Addressing the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, United States of America, on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe have a negative impact on neighbouring countries, including South Africa. He said:
The sanctions that are applied against Zimbabwe should also be lifted as they are imposing untold suffering on ordinary Zimbabweans, but also have a collateral negative impact on neighbouring countries as well, such as my own country, South Africa.
The Western powers imposed the sanctions against Zimbabwe more than 20 two decades ago when the late former president Robert Mugabe was still in power.
While some government officials and companies’ names have been removed from the sanctions list, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) enacted by the United States in 2001 is still in place.
Under ZDERA, the Secretary of the Treasury instructed the U.S. executive director of each international financial institution to “oppose and vote against” any extension by the respective institution of any loan credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe.
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