Online Reporter
Richard Muponde
Zimpapers Politics Hub
THE Government has taken a significant and unprecedented step by mandating the Citizens Against Economic Sanctions to develop an anti-sanctions curriculum that will be incorporated into the country’s education system.
This milestone, confirmed by CAES Executive Director Mr Martin Zharare, is being hailed as a strategic move to empower citizens through knowledge and strengthen national resilience.
The mandate, which comes under the newly gazetted Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act, is seen as a crucial step towards ensuring that the youth and the public at large are fully aware of the impact of the economic embargoes on the country.
“The Government, through the PVO certificate, has mandated us to produce an anti-sanctions curriculum that will teach Zimbabweans about the debilitating sanctions imposed on the country by the United States, Britain and their allies,” said Mr Zharare.
“Our people must know that sanctions have affected our country causing untold suffering in health care, the social fabric, and slowing the growth of our economy as a whole.
“With this mandate given to us, we are going to engage experts on this subject so that we come up with the content which will be taught to our people. They will be working with our department of education in the organisation.”
CAES, which was formed in 2014 as a grassroots movement to mobilise citizens against the economic embargoes, has now achieved full registration as a Private Voluntary Organisation after a rigorous multi-year process.
Mr Zharare extended gratitude to President Mnangagwa for his unwavering support during the registration process, stating that this milestone reflects the Government’s commitment to empowering citizens.
As a newly registered PVO, CAES now has a stronger legal standing to scale up its efforts in advocacy, empowerment and development, particularly for Zimbabweans impacted by the sanctions imposed under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) of 2000.
The ZDERA Act, passed by the US Congress, together with sanctions from the European union and the United Kingdom, were imposed at the height of Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform programme, which redistributed commercial farmland from about 4 500 white farmers to over 300 000 landless black Zimbabweans.
While the West claimed the measures were targeted at individuals and institutions accused of human rights violations and electoral malpractice, Harare insists the sanctions were meant to punish Zimbabwe for redressing historical land ownership imbalances.
According to Zanu PF and the Government, these sanctions have choked the economy, costing Zimbabwe over US$100 billion in lost revenue over two decades, restricted access to credit lines, crippled key sectors such as health and education, and isolated the country from international financial systems.
CAES Education Officer Mr James Zezai Katonje underscored the depth of the educational component of this mandate.
“As education officers in CAES, we are mandated to advocate for the inclusion of CAES into the curriculum of sanctions,” Mr Katonje said.
He highlighted that the process will be research-intensive to ensure the content is comprehensive and suitable for all age groups.
“This calls for too much research. We are going to research to find what content we’re going to use so that we’re going to teach young children from ECD, Grade 1 to Grade 7, from Form 4 up to teacher level.
“We have to take much input from the education system and Minister Mutasa, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education.
“We are going to involve many people so that the curriculum is tailor-made for the ECD, the primary school, the secondary school and the teacher level.
This will help the child to grow up with much knowledge about his country, to be able to see how these sanctions have impacted on their lives, what measures are we going to take so that the people of Zimbabwe will be able to live in a good country.”
“This curriculum is being framed as an integral complement to Heritage Education 5.0, which already emphasises innovation, patriotism, and production-oriented learning,” he said.
Mr Katonje said the skills taught under the curriculum will equip Zimbabweans to be “healthily self-sufficient, depending less on the outside world and in a way, passing the sanctions.”
Globally, several nations have introduced similar educational drives to foster resilience in times of adversity.
Cuba, for instance, developed a national ideological curriculum to teach citizens about the impact of the decades-long US embargo and to cultivate a spirit of self-reliance.
China, after periods of Western sanctions, has strengthened patriotic education campaigns to instil national pride and collective responsibility for development. Zimbabwe’s approach seeks to do the same, building a citizenry that understands the past, engages with the present, and shapes a sanctions-proof future.
The formulation of such a curriculum will require participation from multiple stakeholders, including curriculum developers, historians, economists, educators, civil society, and policymakers, to ensure it is evidence-based, factual, and inspirational.
It will be taught in schools, universities, teacher training colleges, and extended to community awareness platforms so that both the youth and adults are engaged in the national discourse.
SADC’s decision in 2019 to declare October 25 as Anti-Sanctions Day, later adopted by the African Union, was a regional affirmation of Zimbabwe’s stance that the sanctions are illegal and must be removed.
Annual commemorations, coordinated by the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, have become platforms to mobilise citizens, civil society, and regional partners to speak with one voice against the measures.
