adminThe Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) plans to lobby Western countries to remove sanctions that they imposed on the country over a decade ago as retribution for implementing land reforms to correct a colonial imbalance.
The sanctions precipitated an economic meltdown that saw rapid de-industrialisation, collapse of basic social services and are estimated to have cost the country more than $42 billion since 2000.
ZNCC president Davison Norupiri told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce that sanctions continued to derail economic recovery efforts, highlighting that a lot of companies had felt the effects of the embargo on their operations.
“Sanctions are real, some of our banks are failing to transact as we speak.
“Parastatals are on the brink of collapse because they can’t bring in spares,” he said.
“So as business, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to join you Parliamentarians and the government to try and lobby against sanctions. We’re going to present a number of papers for the cause,” he added.
The European Union has partially lifted sanctions on Zimbabwe and resumed channelling development assistance funds through Treasury in February this year, the first time since 2002.
But the United States has maintained its restrictions citing “lack of democracy.”
The Zimbabwe government has in the past launched several campaigns to push the Western powers to remove the illegal sanctions regime.
These efforts included an anti-sanctions petition campaign and suing the EU bloc for losses to the economy stemming from the sanctions regime. — New Ziana.
Online Reporter