Show us some respect Mr Wharton

Tendai Moyo
RECENT utterances by United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton that his country would confiscate money realised from the planned sale of diamonds between the European Union and Zimbabwe are not only vexatious but condescending.
Really, how can a supposedly respectable diplomat stand before a congregation of Zimbabweans, at an occasion to commemorate a sacred place such as Naletale monuments, and wantonly declare that his predatory country would do everything possible to pounce on funds generated from the sale of diamonds to the European Union?

“We will not impose our powers or position on the EU, but if companies attempt to do business (on Zimbabwe’s diamonds) through the system, US laws shall apply,” Wharton unashamedly declared.

The US envoy dropped this salvo at a time Zimbabweans were celebrating the lifting of sanctions on diamond companies by the EU at the behest of Belgium.

The lifting of the sanctions heralded better times for the country’s economy, which has been buckling under financial constraints occasioned by the deleterious sanctions imposed by the west.

Economic prospects even brightened when Zimbabwe received a troupe of senior officials from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, in a visit that signalled the EU’s sincerity and commitment to building diamond trade relations with Zimbabwe.

Trading at Antwerp would attract better prices for the country’s gems, which all along have been traded at constricted prices due to the nebulous way they have been merchandised in order to circumvent sanctions. Things were looking good and Zimbabwe was projected to rack in around US$2 billion annually.

The quantum of such projected diamond earnings were set to play a pivotal role in efforts to revive the country’s declining economy. Moribund industries would definitely be revived and numerous jobs created.

New hospitals would be built and old ones rehabilitated with full drug stocks. Agriculture would be financed and schools capacitated. Such is the potential Zimbabwe could realise if its diamonds are allowed to trade freely.

But alas! All this would remain a pipe dream if the US continues pouncing on our diamond funds as pronounced by the insolent US envoy.

Under the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, the US Department of State’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is mandated to seize and confiscate money from Zimbabwean companies, including diamond companies listed under the aforementioned law.

In this regard, diamond trading between the EU and Zimbabwe could suffer stillbirth as the transactions are likely to be conducted through the vindictive US financial system watched over by Ofac.

Worse still, several companies in Zimbabwe are already sweltering under the strain of US sanctions as they have lost thousands of dollars to Ofac or have failed to access offshore lines of credit for recapitalisation.

A few weeks ago, Zimbabwe’s mobile communication company, Econet Wireless, reported that its operations have been hamstrung by the poisoned economic environment spawned by the west’s illegal economic sanctions regime. Econet chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni bemoaned how sanctions had created a difficult business environment saying, “We are not going to stop trying to serve our community despite what has been a very difficult environment because of factors like sanctions”.

Relatedly, an audit firm, BCA Forensic Audit Services has unearthed how Air Zimbabwe has been smothered by sanctions that have made it impossible for the national carrier to secure airline insurance. After being ditched by traditional insurers due to western sanctions, Air Zimbabwe had to scrounge for companies that could provide insurance cover without being detected by the omnipresent sanctions edifice.

This sanctions-busting arrangement resulted in Air Zimbabwe losing more than 5,1 million euros due to overly charged insurance premiums which are crippling its operations.

Other companies such as the Industrial Development Corporation and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe were left to count their losses after they lost thousands of US dollars to Ofac.

Many other companies are silently reeling under sanctions and could not publicly proclaim their losses due to some business or political discretions. Analysts have concluded that Zimbabwe has over the past 13 years lost revenue amounting to $42 billion because of sanctions.

As a result of sanctions, many companies were forced to close shop and concomitantly offload workers into the streets. Government programmes to support agriculture or resuscitate social infrastructure were equally scuttled resulting in food shortages and the general suffering of the populace.

Amidst all the sanctions-induced suffering, it is baffling and annoying that Mr Wharton finds glee in irreverently celebrating his country’s callous intentions to seize funds earned from the Zimbabwe-EU diamond deals.

Surely, how could he find pleasure in our suffering? How could he even have the audacity to gloat at an occasion to observe the legacy of Naletale monuments?

The least we expect is for Mr Wharton to simply show us some respect.