The Sunday News
Khumbulani Vodloza Sibanda
CORRUPTION must be condemned in the strongest terms wherever and whenever it takes place. It destroys nations and whole economies through abuse of office, inappropriation of funds, nepotism and money laundering, that is a fact that cannot be disputed.
What triggered Zimbabwe’s economic challenges in the past two decades has always been subject to debate among citizens in various fora, be it in public, private or social media platforms, regarding this subject. Consensus is yet to be reached by debaters.
However, compared to corruption, sanctions are worse as they are the root cause of corruption. They are imposed by some foreign nations at the behest of some local anti-Government organisations and individuals, with an agenda to destroy the very livelihoods of Zimbabweans for political expediency. It is therefore true to say sanctions gave birth to corruption in this country.
Since human beings are not dinosaurs which fail to adapt to changing times and become extinct, human beings normally try to adapt to new challenges even if it means through unorthodox means such as corruption.
In 2002 and 2003, the United States imposed what it preferred to call “targeted restrictions” on selected individuals and companies that were affiliated to the ruling Zanu-PF party. These restrictions included some financial institutions, travel bans for some top-Government officials, a ban on transfers of defence items and services, and a suspension of non-humanitarian government-to-government assistance.
On the other hand the European Union’s (EU) sanctions on Zimbabwe were first imposed in 2002, by Common Position 2002/145/CFSP, in relation to alleged escalation of violence and intimidation of political opponents and the harassment of the independent press.
The sanctions comprised an arms embargo, as well as an asset freeze and travel ban on targeted people and entities. The late Morgan Tsvangirai who was the founder and leader of the MDC was the first person to sit on live broadcast with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) calling for sanctions on his own people and country in 2001. He set a precedence that the current co-vice president of the MDC Alliance, Tendai Biti and David Coltart who followed suit and crafted the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) in pursuant for more sanctions on Zimbabwe, which culminated in a lot of suffering for the ordinary man on the streets.
As though this has not been damaging enough, soon after the coming in of the New Dispensation, in what was supposed to be a new dawn for Zimbabwe, the MDC leadership in the make of Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti and Dehwa Mavhinga, visited New York to push for more sanctions. The ripple effect of these sanctions that the MDC-Alliance has increased with the help of some USA senators have not only rendered most of the companies in Zimbabwe obsolete as they fail to retool their equipment hence destroying a lot of livelihoods as they are forced to close down. The result has been millions of job losses, which has left people with nothing but to engage in corrupt dealings for survival.
Sanctions are the mother of corruption as they deprive citizens of their very right to a dignified lifestyle. If sanctions imposed on the country by the West and its allies are lifted today, levels of corruption will decrease significantly as a result of improved livelihoods. Sanctions have led to Zimbabwe’s failure to attract investors and to access finance from global institutions. When diamonds were discovered in the Marange fields in 2001, it took decades for Zimbabwe’s gems to be accepted on the international diamond trading platforms. The country’s diamonds were labelled “blood diamonds.” That prompted corruption in the diamond sector, a sector that was supposed to be a game changer in the country’s economy.
Similarly in the wildlife sector, Zimbabwe could not trade freely in wildlife and related products due to sanctions imposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Services and others. Human-wildlife conflict has increased in areas such as Hwange and the surrounding areas as animals and human beings compete for food, space and water. As a result corruption has increased in this once a cradle for tourism in the country sector.
