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Bernard Bwoni
There has been an intentional and dishonest repetition that Zimbabwe is under ‘targeted sanctions’ and ‘travel bans’ which target President Mugabe and his ‘cronies’ and these distortions have deliberately misled the world on the plight of this nation which is really under siege.
The existence of economic sanctions has been casually brushed off and the architects of the sanctions have not been sincere or morally upright on the suffering that befell the general populace in Zimbabwe.
The unbearable hardship is blamed solely on the land reform programme and it seems convenient to justify such ruinous sanctions and disguise the real intention behind them. There have been comparative arguments of the sanctions placed on Rhodesia and Zimbabwe economic sanctions and what emerges is a racist repertoire which is inextricably imbedded with a long-term neo-liberal grand master-plan. The sanctions against Rhodesia created social and political integration due to the fact that the Ian Smith regime was given more than enough time to prepare for the sanctions. On the other hand for Zimbabwe the sanctions created socio-economic and political upheaval and disintegration because the country was slapped with instant economic sanctions which led to an economic meltdown, the strengthening of opposition politics and privation among ordinary Zimbabweans. Unlike Zimbabwe, Rhodesia had a very strong historical identification with those who were imposing the sanctions and had ideological allies who had a vested interest in ensuring that the regime stayed intact and hence they did not approve of the sanctions. Rhodesian sanctions were at most symbolic whereas Zimbabwe sanctions are full-blown, imposed indiscriminately. The nature of the sanctions against Rhodesian highlights a protective approach in that the Smith regime was given enough warning to prepare and harness the collective national spirit.
Johan Galtung wrote an article in 1966 (On the Effects of International Economic Sanctions: With Examples from the Case of Rhodesia) hypothesising the likely impact of the sanctions long before they were imposed. Galtung pointed out that there were even jokes like “there will be no sanctions against drinks” ridiculing sanctions way before they came into effect.
It is disingenuous that the architects of these hardship-inducing sanctions claim that Mugabe and his “cronies” blame the sanctions as a way of diverting attention from the country’s politics and internal mismanagement. The sanctions against Rhodesia did not work because some countries such as South Africa, Portugal, Israel and some Arab nations propped up the Smith regime. Rhodesia also found ways of circumventing the sanctions as imports and exports were smuggled through South Africa. The Zimbabwe sanctions on the other hand are devastating on the economy. Hufbauer and Schott, 1990 (Economic Sanctions Reconsidered: History and Current Policy) calculate that the annual cost of economic sanctions on Rhodesia was just US$130 million per year.
In a study titled “Economic Sanctions” prepared for the Harvard Centre for International Affairs, Robin Renwick, head of the Rhodesian department of the British Foreign Office, reported that between 1965 and 1974 Rhodesia’s real output increased 6 percent per year; the value of exports more than doubled between 1968 and 1974 and continued to rise afterward, although more slowly. On the other hand the sanctions against Zimbabwe have cost the country in excess of US$42 billion since 2001, which translates to a staggering US$3,5 billion annually to date!
The interruption of trade and constraints on manufacturing and general activities saw GDP almost halving from US$7,49 billion in 2000 to US$4 billion in 2010. The sanctions against Rhodesia were devised and implemented in a manner to publicly appear to punish yet privately there was a collective kindred-ship to preserve and protect. At most the sanctions were a symbolic gesture to appear to condemn the racist Ian Smith government. On the other hand the sanctions against Zimbabwe were designed to hurt without due care and attention to the suffering of the ordinary people of Zimbabwe.
Writer can be contacted on bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
daniel chigunwe
Online Reporter