admin
Bernard Bwoni
“THE US takes great care to minimise any unintended consequences from targeted sanctions and I can tell you that my embassy works hard to try to resolve any that may arise. But, blaming targeted sanctions for Zimbabwe’s serious economic challenges or for issues such as potholes and road accidents is diversionary,” US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton had this to say recently.
This very unfortunate statement from the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe is not only disrespectful but highly insensitive to the predicament of the ordinary people whose lives have been downgraded to absolute destitution due to the effects of these unacceptable and unwarranted sanctions.
With all due respect to Ambassador Wharton, when he first arrived in Zimbabwe in November 2012, he vowed to “engage in a dialogue that was respectful” and expressed a commendable desire to “listen and learn”. But his recent remarks have compromised his initial promise to respect, listen and learn. The Ambassador clearly has not been listening to the sanction-induced poverty-stricken plight of the people of Zimbabwe. For Ambassador Wharton to say that the impact of the sanctions on Zimbabwe is “diversionary” is not only insincere but a clear denial of his government’s responsibilities as the real architects of these merciless economic measures.
These sanctions have created massive sinkholes in the economic, social and political foundations of this unfortunate and undeserving nation. It is the indiscriminate nature of these economic measures that has fractured the very nucleus of this nation. The entire national fabric has been ripped to pieces beyond patching.
There is no way of correcting this raw reality; there is no way of patching the aftermath of these man-made sinkholes and all we can do is endure in the hope that the US moral compass starts navigating again. Obama might “take great care to minimise the unintended consequences from the sanctions” far removed in the comforts of the White House away from the maddening crowds and the commotion created by what Wharton calls the “unintended consequences” of these unlawful and heavy-handed sanctions.
Ambassador Wharton is well aware that there are no “unintended consequences” of these intended sanctions. What Zimbabwe is enduring is an intentional by-product of a consciously planned and intended outcome of the sanctions. Wharton is clearly aware of the economic impact of the sanctions on the Zimbabwe economy and the unbearable hardship this has caused the blame-free people of Zimbabwe. The Ambassador lives in Zimbabwe at the moment and has firsthand experience of the devastating nature of these abominable sanctions on the most vulnerable groups in our society. It is those people at the bottom end of the scale who have had to bear the full brunt of it all and have seen their livelihoods reduced to abject poverty. These are the very same people whose civil liberties the Wharton’s government is purporting to be protecting and now relegating the crisis to “unintended consequences.”
The Ambassador goes on to deliberately reduce the Zimbabwe sanctions to mere “targeted measures” which again is very sneaky and insincere of him. These are and have always been full blown economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. It was only a few days ago that the European Union was lifting the “economic sanctions” against Zimbabwe and it seems only Wharton is still stuck in the now discontinued “targeted sanctions” mode. Even the white community in Zimbabwe has come out in full force in support of the complete removal of these economic sanctions.
The “Zimbabweans against Sanctions” chairman, Matthew Smith, said that the “sanctions were not targeted, but were a broad-based financial embargo in their nature and impact – whether you call them smart or targeted measures or financial sanctions, their effect has neither been smart nor targeted as it consumed Zimbabwe and all its citizens in one and the same negative way without discrimination”.
What is incredible even to the most trusting is the fact that Wharton wants us to believe that the mighty USA drafted a whole Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act 2001 (ZDERA 2001) Bill with the sole and selfless intention of targeting Robert Mugabe and a few of his “cronies” in their philanthropic desire and self-appointed duty to “protect” the people of Zimbabwe and “promote” the rule of law and democracy. A Bill to target the President of a small sovereign country thousands of miles away – that I find far-fetched to believe the motives were all altruistic and humanitarian entirely.
Complex and duplicitous Bills aside, what is concrete is that the sanctions have significantly hindered Zimbabwe’s economic progress over the past 12 years. It is disingenuous for Ambassador Wharton to reduce the effects of this man-made immorality to “unintended consequences”. The impact of the sanctions on Zimbabwe has been as real as the harsh life that the ordinary man, woman and child on the street has to bear and will continue to endure daily as long as the US moral compass remains stuck in deliberate denial.
Bernard Bwoni can be contacted on [email protected]/ bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter