Online Reporter
Farai Ian Muvuti
In a world reshaped by climate emergencies, geopolitical shifts and urgent development needs, it is both troubling and instructive that one of the most outdated tools of foreign policy — unilateral sanctions — remains in force against Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA), enacted by the United States in 2001 and sustained through successive administrations, including the current presidency of Donald Trump, stands as a relic of an earlier era: one in which coercion was mistaken for diplomacy and financial isolation substituted for constructive engagement.
Now, nearly 25 years later, ZDERA has not achieved its stated goals.
Instead, it has entrenched hardship, blocked developmental opportunity and denied a sovereign African nation the right to chart its own course.
Most urgently, it has cut off Zimbabwe’s ability to fully participate in the international system at precisely the moment when global unity — particularly in the face of climate change — is more necessary than ever.
Zimbabwe is not the country it was in 2001.
It has undergone reforms, national healing, economic reconstruction and regional reintegration.
Through resilience, innovation and diplomacy, the nation has weathered many storms.
Yet the continued existence of ZDERA reflects a failure not on Zimbabwe’s part, but on the part of those who refuse to adjust their policies to reflect today’s realities.
It is not just an injustice; it is a strategic and moral miscalculation that undermines regional stability, African development and global climate goals.
To appreciate the true cost of ZDERA, one must understand what it actually does.
Far beyond so-called “targeted sanctions”, the law compels US representatives at multilateral financial institutions — such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank — to block funding, credit lines and development assistance to Zimbabwe.
While framed in the language of reform, its real effect is the isolation of a nation from the financial arteries of global development.
The Government of Zimbabwe has repeatedly made it clear that ZDERA is not about human rights or democracy, but about control — control over a country that dared to assert its sovereignty through land reform and economic indigenisation.
These domestic policies, rooted in the pursuit of justice and equity, were never going to please the former colonial powers or their strategic allies.
But rather than dialogue, the response was economic siege.
Today, that siege continues.
What makes the persistence of ZDERA even more damaging in 2025 is the changing nature of the global challenge.
Zimbabwe is now on the frontlines of climate change.
Droughts, cyclones, desertification and shifting rainfall patterns have placed immense strain on agriculture, infrastructure and livelihoods.
The impact is not theoretical; it is lived daily by farmers, schoolchildren, nurses and entrepreneurs trying to build a future against growing odds.
The World Bank’s 2021 Climate and Development Report for Zimbabwe estimates that without significant climate adaptation, the country could face gross domestic product (GDP) losses of up to 20 percent by mid-century.
That is a staggering number in any economy, but for a developing nation still rebuilding its productive capacity, it is catastrophic.
And yet Zimbabwe’s access to the very tools meant to prevent this — international climate finance, concessional lending and technology transfer — is restricted, not by capacity, but by politics.
ZDERA has effectively blacklisted Zimbabwe from global green funding mechanisms.
Institutions designed to help nations mitigate and adapt to climate change are hamstrung by legislation that belongs to another political context altogether.
The irony is profound: While Zimbabwe meets its global obligations under the Paris Agreement and has developed its own National Climate Policy, it is denied access to climate finance because of a 2001 law written for a different purpose.
This is more than unfortunate — it is unjust.
It violates the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, which underpins global climate negotiations.
It punishes a country that has contributed almost nothing to global emissions but bears the brunt of their consequences.
And it runs counter to the spirit of multilateralism that is supposed to guide our global response to ecological breakdown.
Globally, attitudes are shifting.
The world is increasingly recognising that unilateral sanctions, particularly those not endorsed by the United Nations, are incompatible with the ideals of sovereignty and development.
In Africa, regional bodies such as the African Union and SADC have repeatedly called for the immediate removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe, noting their negative impact on regional trade, food security and investment. Even within the Western academic community, there is growing discomfort with the logic and impact of sanctions regimes.
A 2025 study by economists Rodríguez and Imam comparing Zimbabwe and Venezuela found that sanctions often result in what they call “growth collapses”— extended periods of economic stagnation caused not by domestic policies alone, but by systematic exclusion from global finance.
The researchers argue that sanctions reinforce hardship, prolong instability and ultimately fail to achieve their stated political goals.
Zimbabwe has not been isolated by its own choice. It has sought partnerships with international institutions, committed to global frameworks and continued to play a constructive role in regional peace and diplomacy.
The decision to exclude it is neither neutral nor consequence-free.
It affects infrastructure. It weakens healthcare. It slows innovation. Most of all, it undermines the hope and energy of Zimbabwe’s youth — the very people the world claims to support.
In the absence of support from traditional Western partners, Zimbabwe has diversified its international relationships, turning to friends in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
While this has brought important infrastructure and investment gains, it has also highlighted a broader truth: that sanctions do not isolate countries from the world, but only from the West.
The rest of the world continues to see Zimbabwe as a partner, a market and a sovereign nation worthy of respect.
What, then, is the path forward?
The most obvious and just action is the full repeal of ZDERA.
Such a move would not be an admission of failure, but a recognition of progress.
It would signal a shift from confrontation to cooperation, from imposition to partnership.
It would enable Zimbabwe to re-engage with multilateral financial institutions, access long-denied development capital and contribute more fully to Africa’s collective growth story.
But even short of full repeal, serious reform is necessary.
The US Congress, Treasury and multilateral institutions must revisit the assumptions that underlie sanctions policy.
Isolating a country struggling with drought and climate shocks while praising global climate leadership is not a coherent position. Blocking access to water infrastructure finance while calling for global resilience is not morally defensible.
Zimbabwe is not asking for charity.
It is asking for fairness — a chance to rebuild, to adapt, to thrive.
It is asking that its sovereignty be respected, that its people be empowered and that its future not be held hostage by decisions made in another era, for reasons that no longer stand up to scrutiny.
On this Anti-Sanctions Day, we are reminded that history does not move in straight lines.
Policies crafted in haste or for narrow interests can have long shadows.
But they are not unchangeable.
They can — and must — be reformed.
Zimbabwe has extended its hand to the world.
The time has come for the world, including the US, to respond not with conditions, but with courage.
The sanctions imposed through ZDERA do not reflect the realities of Zimbabwe in 2025.
They do not reflect the needs of a world facing shared climate threats.
They do not reflect the values of dignity, sovereignty and multilateralism that we must uphold if the global system is to endure.
Repealing ZDERA would not just benefit Zimbabwe. It would affirm the principle that nations, particularly those in the Global South, must be equal participants in shaping their destinies.
That is not only diplomacy; it is justice.
Farai Ian Muvuti is the CEO of The Southern African Times and founder of Sankofa Capital. He champions African trade, investment and digital innovation, linking businesses with global partners.
Bongani Ndlovu