Online Reporter
FOR repossessing farmland that was alienated from its rightful owners over 90 years of British colonial misrule, our country was hit with Western sanctions.
The UN Security Council did not sanction the punitive measures, which makes them illegal under international law.
A study carried out by the Government shows that the country lost more than $42 billion in revenue between 2001, when the first sanctions were imposed, and 2019. We lost bilateral donor support estimated at $4,5 billion annually since 2001, $12 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank, commercial loans of $18 billion, and a gross domestic product contraction of $21 billion.
Because the country has been shut out of global credit markets, external funding to build and maintain infrastructure such as roads, schools, hospitals, railways, and so on dried up at a time when the domestic economy was too weak to fund large developments.
Hundreds of factories shut down, throwing millions out of jobs.
Because life had become impossible at the worst of the punishment between 2005 and 2016, the country witnessed one of the world’s biggest outward migrations as hundreds of thousands sought opportunities elsewhere.
With Zimbabwe, the breadbasket of the region, which also sits at the heart of the bloc, on its knees, the impact of the measures extended into Sadc. Leaders from the region took advantage of every forum to denounce the measures for their illegality, their vicious impact on the people, and the very basis of their imposition, which is to reverse the pro-people land reform programme.
Sadc went a step further in August 2019 to declare October 25 as Sadc Anti-Sanctions Day. Thus, today marks the seventh anniversary of that very, very important day for our country and its neighbours.
President Mnangagwa will today address the nation, with several other activities lined up nationwide and in the region. We expect him to not only denounce the sanctions and demand their unconditional, immediate removal but also demonstrate that the proud people of Zimbabwe are not taking the unjust blows helplessly sprawled on the ground, but are moving forward defiantly, demonstrating their resilience and commitment to progress despite the sanctions.
The theme, “Inclusive Development through Heritage-Based Innovation and Industrialisation in a Multilateral World,” summarises that national posture.
Indeed, we are advancing despite the measures, advancing in a manner that must be shocking those who imposed the measures with the hope that the country would collapse and collapse forever.
From the 2005-2016 abyss, our economy will, this year, grow by six percent, which will make it the best performer in the region, outperforming economies that aren’t under sanctions. That estimate is according to the International Monetary Fund, but the Government expects the economy to grow 6.6 percent.
We are witnessing a construction boom. That level of activity is ordinarily expected in jurisdictions that are not under sanctions.
Colleges and universities, even schools, are coming up with innovations to take the country forward.
That and more is what defines Zimbabwe. We always deliver a good, just fight.
derick.khumalo