Mr Wharton, sanctions must go

Of interest is the new US ambassador, Mr David Bruce Wharton, who made some intriguing remarks to Zimbabweans after presenting his credentials.

He said Washington was willing to normalise relations with Harare based on what he called democratic reforms. On the onslaught, one would tell that his statements had some overtones of denial of the illegal sanctions his country slapped on Zimbabwe as has been the case with his predecessors.

After meeting the President, who is also the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Mr Wharton told the media that his country’s policy on Zimbabwe was not static.

He pledged the United States would react positively to the so called democratic processes and reforms such as holding legitimate, free and fair elections.

If one carefully looks at some of the excerpts of the interview the ambassador gave during a roundtable discussion with some journalists at the embassy offices in Harare on Friday, it appears there is nothing much to be celebrated from what he said.

Just like the other ambassadors from the European Union, incoming Belgian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Maricou Johan Sang chose to refer to the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe as restrictive measures, which will be removed if certain conditions are met. Yes, these countries are sovereign democracies that have the right to choose countries to befriend, we are, however, saying if they decide to cross swords with others, it should be based on legitimate reasons.

Wharton appears to be singing from the same hymn book with his predecessors among them Mr Christopher Dell and James McGee. The ambassador should rise to the challenge and oversee the removal of the illegal sanctions.

Ambassador Wharton’s predecessors were clear on their positions and they never promised any hope for Zimbabwe. We expect that there will be debate in US Senate to scrap the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act that was later changed to Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act in 2010.

Under this law some US nationals with positions of authority in multilateral institutions are encouraged to use their positions to veto all proposals to render assistance to Zimbabwe. This law also calls to capacitate some non-governmental organisations and political parties battling to wrest power from Zanu-PF.

When Ambassador Wharton emerged from the State House and addressed journalists, many people thought that since he was a diplomat here when the US sanctions were taking toll on Zimbabweans, he would announce that his country had now mellowed its stance. The ambassador was in Zimbabwe between 1990 and 2003 as an officer at the embassy’s public affairs section and he witnessed how the sanctions decimated the country.

Yes, the ambassador made a number of pledges on Star FM last Monday and explained how he wanted to work with Zimbabwean leaders and his Government back home. But the US$1 billion his country contributed to Zimbabwe over the past 10 years to the health sector would mean less as long the sanctions remain in place.

Mr Wharton told radio listeners that his dream was to see Zimbabwe having the best health delivery system. He said about 160 000 people living with HIV and Aids were receiving anti-retroviral drugs through US based organisations and that US$95 million was set aside to fight HIV and tuberculosis this year.

He promised co-operation in the agriculture sector adding this sector had huge potential. The Marange diamonds are under sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department’s Office for Foreign Assets Control. So far OFAC has intercepted over US$30 million from different companies the world over meant to buy diamonds from Zimbabwe because huge transactions in US dollars have to pass through the US Treasury.

There are 120 people mainly Zanu-PF officials and 70 companies that have been placed on sanctions for reportedly undermining the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Among these companies are the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe. It is against this backdrop that Zimbabweans expected to hear from Mr Wharton on Star FM that at least some of the embargoes were going to be scrapped soon because the country had made tremendous progress in restoring peace and security.

The country has over complied with the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme and has become a role model for many countries failing to achieve full KP compliance. Zimbabweans implore that the ambassador should lobby for the US to lift OFAC sanctions imposed on the Marange Diamonds.

The ambassador argues that he shares the same objectives and aspirations with locals of seeing Zimbabwe prospering. He also said he would want to regularly have meetings with President Mugabe.
We are not sure if the ambassador thinks the President will be happy to have regular meetings with him while he insists every time that the sanctions are targeted on individuals.