AFRICAN-AMERICANS have added their voice to Zimbabwe’s 24-year-old bruising fight against Western-imposed illegal sanctions.
This is a most welcome development in Zimbabwe’s relentless quest for a just and multipolar world.
Harare is fighting tooth and nail for the total removal of these illegal West- ern-imposed
sanctions.

That fight, which has continued to gain traction among progressive forces, is premised on the Second Republic’s ef- forts to fulfil the aspirations of its painful struggle for freedom through land re- form — the source of the sanctions — as well as fend off the West’s unrelenting quest for regime change.

Thus, the support of black business- men from the US during the just ended 79th UN General Assembly (UNGA 79) in New York last week, becomes even more poignant.
October 25 was declared the SADC Anti-Sanctions Day by the regional bloc during the 39th Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in August 2019.
Since then the day has been commem- orated mainly across the region but the voice of the
African-Americans will add impetus to Harare’s justified calls for the uplifting of the embargo in toto.
Despite claims on March 4 2024 by the US that they had removed the sanctions on Zimbabwe, which they imposed on December 21 2001, followed by the EU on February 18 2002, the reality is that the sanctions are very much intact and severely affecting the economy and the masses.

The Zimbabwe Democracy and Eco- nomic Recovery Act (ZDERA), which gave birth to the country’s economic problems, has remained in place with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, his deputy Vice-President Constantino Chi- wenga, other Government officials and entities being put on the March 4 sanctions list.

But Zimbabwe has been clear from the inception of the sanctions under the
so-called ZDERA (Section 4C titled ‘Mul- tilateral Financing Restriction’), which was amended in 2018 and has been giv- en more teeth through Executive Order 13288, among other things, states that:“The Secretary of the US Treasury shall instruct the US Executive Director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit or guarantee to the Government
of Zimbabwe; or any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial in- stitutions.”
Despite the March 4 announcement, the economy continues to take a battering.

Local banks are still not in a position to attract fresh capital or lines of credit from
traditional funders. Our economy and currency are still under attack from the same sources that have worked in cahoots with Western countries to effect illegal regime change.
The country’s leadership and key in- stitutions are still reeling under the em- bargo, hampering the country’s efforts to develop the economy.

“Today Zimbabwe cannot be expect- ed to thank or be grateful to President Joseph Biden and the US for announcing palliative measures towards finally rescinding an illegality and an outrage, even then at its own pace, perpetrated for more than two decades, and in fla- grant violation of international law,” said Government in a March 6 2024 state- ment in response to the US’ now legend- ary arrogance.

“Nothing short of some prompt, un- conditional removal in toto of those illegal coercive measures,including the infamous ZDERA, is acceptable to Zim- babwe and her long-abused, innocent people.
“That heinous Act which the US passed unilaterally, and outside the confines and
auspices of international law and the UN respectively, was given effect through
a series of equally illegal Executive Or- ders by successive presidents of the US, by which the US government sought to make laws and punitive policies for a sovereign African state with which it shares neither common geography nor history, and against which it has no de- fensible legal case.”
The most tragic aspect of those sanc- tions is that they were called for and are still endorsed by some inane characters within Zimbabwe’s borders and outside.
Their infantile, futile hope which they still fallaciously cling on to, is that the embargo will
catapult them to power.
That is, however, coming to an end, following the announcement last week on the sidelines of UNGA 79 by the Il- linois Chamber of Commerce that they will be going on an all-out offensive to lobby for the complete removal of the sanctions by their Government.
“We want to make sure that we make the case for removing sanctions against Zimbabwe and the African-American voice is a voice that matters and is lis- tened to,” said Illinois Chamber of Commerce chairman, Larry Ivory, who also revealed he will bring a high-powered delegation of investors to invest in Zim- babwe in December.

“We are committed in our hearts not to just come there and make money but to ensure that
Zimbabweans enjoy access to international markets unencumbered by sanctions.”
It is imperative for all those of a pro- gressive disposition to bear in mind that the sanctions
are not only coming from outside; there are those who are sabotag- ing the currency and the economy, too.
These, too, need to be duly dealt with!