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PARLIAMENT began sitting this week and the newly elected Members of Parliament have started on a good note by calling for the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.
The sanctions have crippled the country’s economy and also led to deterioration of social services with schools, universities and other tertiary institutions, hospitals and clinics struggling to offer efficient services.
Yesterday, the MPS called on Zimbabwean political parties to unite and call for the immediate and unconditional lifting of the economic sanctions to ameliorate the suffering they have caused to people.
The parliamentarians said the health sector was reeling under the economic embargo while debating a motion on the need to investigate the problems afflicting health delivery.
The legislators said urgent measures should be instituted to ensure that the sanctions were removed so that economic sectors could recover.
“We should know that issues to do with health do not only affect a Zanu-PF person but also an MDC person, it would be better for us to see a Zanu-PF MP to go out there condemning sanctions, an MDC MP going out there condemning sanctions,” said Buhera South MP Cde
Joseph Chinotimba.
Cde Chinotimba said the country could not afford to continue living under the sanctions regime.
Bikita West MP Dr Munyaradzi Kereke said as much as some people denied existence of the sanctions, the truth was that they were hurting every sector of the economy.
“On the issue of sanctions I will give an example of Chinhoyi District Hospital. It is one of the most well equipped hospitals but only 10 percent of that machinery works because it was acquired in France, Germany and the UK where governments there have placed conditions on trading with Zimbabwe.
“That equipment is not working because of difficulties of acquiring spare parts. Let us join and sing from the same hymn book. Sanctions must not penalise us as Zimbabweans,” he said.
The ruling party Zanu-PF, in its election manifesto, estimates that the sanctions have caused Zimbabwe to lose at least $42 billion since they were imposed in 2002.
We commend the MPs for taking the sanctions fight because the longer the embargo stays, the more harm it is causing to our economy and stalling plans to revive industries that were closed leaving thousands of workers jobless.
Recently cracks emerged within the European Union over the bloc’s illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Belgium broke ranks with the rest of the EU when it called for the immediate lifting of sanctions on diamond mining companies in the wake of the widely hailed July harmonised elections. The EU has since started a process to remove the diamond mining companies from the sanctions list.
But the sanctions must be lifted in their entirety and not only those on the diamond mines.
The EU had said it would review the sanctions after the 31 July harmonised elections and would be guided by Sadc on the credibility of the elections.
Despite Sadc proclaiming that the polls were a free, credible and fair expression of the will of Zimbabwean voters, the European bloc continues to dither on the issue.
Online Reporter