MDC-T pays lip service to GPA on EU sanctions

often than not, been quite animated.
Zimbabwe’s Upper House of Parliament is, as it turns out, a gallery of democracy at work. Nothing brought this to the fore more than the motion moved by non-constituency senator, Aguy Georgias, a fortnight ago calling on the inclusive Government to file a class action suit against EU sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in 2001.
Georgias’ call for class action by the GNU, coming as it did days before the EU council sat for the annual ritual to “review” and renew the sanctions, simply set emotions running high in the Senate on February 8 and 9, as it graphically exposed MDC ambivalence on the issue of sanctions.
The lines of argument in the debate left one uncertain of the stance of the MDC formations on the question of EU and US sanctions on Zimbabwe, and consequently their joint GNU position on the matter?
If we are to be guided by the Global Political Agreement – the supreme law which forms the basis and framework of the GNU signed in September 2008 by Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations which at Article IV commits all the signatories to work together to get the sanctions lifted and to end the country’s international isolation, there ought to be no equivocation on the matter. Alas.
Just as MDC-T president Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, in his statement to mark the second anniversary of the formation of the transitional government, was bemoaning “continued failure to implement even the most simple of the 24 agreed issues of the GPA” blaming it all on “inherent friction and lack of a shared vision” senators from his party, in stark contradiction, were breathing fire and brimstone, in attempting to shoot down Georgias’ motion.
It remains a mystery what it is in Georgias’ motion that sparked the fires. It is either that the MDC senators are ignorant of the contents of the GPA, to which their party leader knowingly appended his signature and is calling for wholesale implementation of the agreed issues. Or it is that the MDC senators are being dissonant on the sanctions issue?
Put simply, Georgias’ premise was that it is an agreed GPA position that all parties to the agreement commit to fight for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe, with a view to ending the country’s international isolation. To the indefatigable senator, who has been on a single-handed crusade against sanctions since he was put on the sanctions travel list ban in 2007, the sanctions are an albatross on the national economy, that economic stability and growth may remain elusive for as long as the sanctions continue in place.
Apart from the financial restrictions affecting lines of credit, the sanctions constitute a lack of goodwill, anathema to social progress and economic development. They have caused so much harm to Zimbabwe’s socio-economic fabric, through mounting poverty and displacement. Sanctions must just go. To Georgias this is so simple to understand. Little did he know that by stating simple truths, he would stir a hornets’ nest?
Incidentally, just days after Georgias moved this motion, and after his London solicitors had petitioned the EU to seek a hearing at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Court of First Instance, his name, together with 34 others, was struck off the sanctions list when the EU council met last Tuesday to review the sanctions with 163 people and 31 businesses remaining on the EU list – a glaring divide and rule tactic which only the most gullible within the Zanu-PF ranks can fall for.
MDC-T senators, instead of interrogating the issues as presented, that sanctions were hurting the national economy resulting in heightened levels of poverty and were thus undesirable, appeared more concerned and preoccupied as it were, with what set the house on fire, rather than rush to put out the fire.
By raising trivial objections, extraneous and unrelated issues, one by one, in emotionally charged, sometimes-intemperate contributions, MDC-T senators appeared ignorant of Article IV of the GPA, which Georgias had gone to great lengths to quote. More than that there appeared to be an entrenched MDC position, though expressed tongue-in-cheek that the sanctions ought to stay.
To Zanu-PF senators, there was no questioning the party position that the sanctions must just go. To MDC senators, it is Zanu-PF that invited the sanctions upon the country. For the sanctions to go, Zanu-PF must go first it therefore raises the question of whether it is possible to bridge the political divide in the senate, indeed in the GNU to agree on a common stance for the lifting of US and EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, in force since 2001.
MDC, in typical double-speak on the issue of sanctions, has not as yet, as agreed to by the three parties to the GPA in Article IV, spoken out to demand the lifting of sanctions, and yet accuses Zanu-PF for, in the words of MDC-T president “the continued failure to implement even the most simple of the 24 agreed issues of the GPA”.
The debate in the Senate continues when the House resumes sitting today. The final outcome of that debate is therefore yet to be known, but it will be a real test for the Senate as the gallery of democracy.
It appears the day is yet still far, judging by the debate in the Senate, for a meeting of minds on the issue of sanctions and the adoption of resolute joint action by the GNU.
But are we still to argue over the net effect of the EU and US sanctions on Zimbabwe? I think not. It is clear to all that Zimbabwe’s entire socio-fabric has been negatively affected. Family ties have been broken with many now scattered in the Diaspora – close to a quarter of our population now living in neigbouring South Africa. For those that remain, jobs are scarce as the manufacturing sector continues to face momentous challenges that, even some of the businessmen known to want to steer clear of politics, are now openly calling for an end to sanctions as the demand for their lifting gets louder.
What then will the GNU do about this other GPA hurdle which appears even more contentious than all the other issues put together? We just pray fists will not fly in the Senate today.
As for Georgias, he appears not too excited by the removal of his name from the sanctions list. Asked how this development may affect his campaign for the lifting of sanctions Georgias said: “It was never about me as an individual although, of course, it may appear so. As a businessman, I have obviously been affected by the precipitous impact of the sanctions. I think it is no longer debatable if the sanctions are real. They are hurting our nation. The national economy must be brought back on rails. How is this possible when businesses, in need of offshore finance for capital investment, cannot access that finance due to the financial restrictions?
“The agreed position is that we must work together for the purpose of getting the sanctions lifted, and so my motion still stands as moved, in any case I do not believe my removal from the travel ban list was an act of charity by the EU. This was a result of the litigation I instituted against the EU and I think plus this motion.”
Georgias also went further to disclose the action his solicitors in London had so far taken: “On 12th January my solicitors wrote three separate letters seeking further particulars from the EU. The letters were addressed to the secretary-general of the Council of the European Union, Pierre de Boissieu, to the director-general and legal advisor to the Council of the European Union, Jean Claude Piris and to the Head of the Africa Unit of the Council of the European Union, Jose Costa Pereira. To date we have not received replies to these letters, but perhaps this is their response.”
Adds Georgias: “This by the way is the second time my London solicitors were writing to the EU. In December 2008, Tim Eicke, the barrister representing me, asked the EU to furnish him with evidence on which the EU Council decided to include me in the Annex to Common Position 2004/161. Their response was that the EU “Council does not possess such additional information” other than that I was Deputy Minister in the Government and continue to be.
“And so to me it was this threat of litigation that got the EU acting. You may recall that Shamer Al-Shanfari of Oryx Diamonds Ltd was also removed from the list under similar circumstances, after his lawyers threatened litigation against the EU.”
As for the EU, they are not done yet with Georgias: “I have suffered great personal loss and anguish as a result of the sanctions. I have spent a lot of money in solicitor’s costs and who is going to pay for all that? We await the EU’s formal response to communication from my solicitors in London.”
In the meantime the GNU appears hamstrung on the issue of sanctions. Will the MDC formations speak out against sanctions or won’t they?