adminFreeman Razemba Senior Reporter
Broad Alliance Against Sanctions members yesterday clocked 202 days camped outside the United States Embassy in Harare and vowed to stay put until their demand for the unconditional removal of illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe has been met.
The group has been camped at the embassy since March 29 this year.
In an interview yesterday, the group’s founder and chairman Mr Calvern Chitsunge said the sanctions imposed by the US were targeting all Zimbabweans, rather than only those they reportedly targeted.
“We are still camped at the US Embassy, and we are now on day 202 today (yesterday),” he said.
“We will not go anywhere until our demands have been met, that sanctions should be removed unconditionally.
“We organised this vigil to show the world that sanctions are not targeted at the individuals on the list, but all Zimbabweans.”
Mr Chitsunge said the sanctions were causing untold suffering such as a high unemployment rate, drug abuse, early marriages and prostitution.
He said a lot of companies countrywide had also closed as a result of the sanctions as they cannot access lines of credit, while hospitals have a shortage of drugs and equipment.
“That is why we decided to camp at the embassy because we have realised that other forms of protest that were conducted in the past have failed,” said Mr Chitsunge.
“The sanctions are not hurting those people on the targeted list, but the ordinary and disadvantaged members of our community.”
Mr Chitsunge called upon well-wishers to provide them with tents as they were sleeping at an open space.
The group’s co-founder and spokesperson Mrs Sally Ngoni called on all citizens to come and join the fight against sanctions.
“We would also want to call upon some political parties who have been calling for sanctions not to seek for political mileage by calling for these sanctions as they are hurting the ordinary people,” she said.
Mrs Ngoni said the Western countries should stop interfering in the domestic problems being faced in the country as Zimbabweans were mature enough to solve their own problems.
The development comes at a time when the Sadc-initiated Anti-Sanctions Solidarity Day on October 25 approaches.
In Zimbabwe, marches against the sanctions will take place throughout the country’s provinces and districts on October 25, with the major event being held at the National Sports Stadium.
The US government has maintained a sanctions regime against Zimbabwe since 2001 as a direct response to the country’s fast track land reform programme meant to correct colonial land ownership imbalances.
Online Reporter