bill hastily passed by Congress in Decem- ber 2001 and signed into law by President George W. Bush, puts a blanket ban on all fresh lending to Zimbabwe and the rescheduling of its debts by international financial institutions, of which the USA is a member, such as the IMF, World Bank and the African Development Bank. Te following is the actual wording of
subsection 2(c) of ZIDERA: “Multilateral financing restriction – Until the President [of the USA] makes the certification described in subsection (d), and except as may be required to meet basic human needs or for good gov-
velopment banks and the International Monetary Fund”. By “multilateral de- velopment banks”, the Act means “the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development [ie, the World Bank], the International Finance Corpora- tion, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corpora- tion, the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency.”
ments and donors – and their allies - have ceased bilateral and other budgetary sup- port to Zimbabwe as a country! In short, Zimbabwe has been frozen
out of the international financial system for the past decade, and it is therefore not true as Western governments always assert that the sanctions are only targeted at individuals and companies. Or that the sanctions do not hurt ordinary Zimbabwe- ans. Tey do! Any government (African or other-
wise) that is not able to borrow (or in the case of Africa, receive donor support) is a government in trouble, and cannot meet the needs of its people. For example, if the British government were prevented (by a ZIDERA) from having the £22.77bn it borrowed in November last year to bal- ance its books or the £163.4bn it borrowed during the 2008-09 financial year, the British economy would go to pot and the people of Britain be hurt by the effects of that ZIDERA. Tus, nobody needs the brain of a rock-
et scientist to deduce that the economic implosion in Zimbabwe in recent years has largely been due to the sanctions imposed on the country by the West and its allies. And it is these sanctions that the Zimba- bwean government now want removed!
ernance, the Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against: (1) Any exten- sion by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe, or (2) Any cancellation or reduc- tion of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.” ZIDERA defines “international finan- cial institutions” as “the multilateral de-
anti-sanctions campaign in Harare was attended by tens of thousands of people
The 3 March launch of the Tus the world will need a new dic-
tionary to interpret the above as “personal sanctions”, because they are not! In fact, since 2001 all Western banks (private or otherwise) have stopped lending to Zimba- bwe as a country, and all Western govern-
New campaign Since 2002, some concerned Pan- Africanists have been warning and urg- ing President Mugabe’s government to make more than mere verbal calls for the removal of the economic sanctions, and that it should carry the people along in the fight for their removal. But even in a “revolutionary Zimbabwe” in the midst of its Tird Chimurenga (third liberation war), the wheels of assimilation and action do move slowly. So it happens that the government has now woken up ten full years behind the prescient Pan-Africanists, and wants to do more to get the sanctions lifted. Te new campaign launched in Harare on 3 March was attended by tens of thousands of ordinary people who are now thoroughly fed up with the sanctions because their lives have been blighted by their effects. Te campaign hopes to collect two mil-
lion signatures by Zimbabweans at home and abroad and other sympathetic peo- ple in Africa and beyond. Te signatures will then be sent to the regional body, the
New African April 2011 | 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92