. . . as Tremont throws caution to the wind

By Golden Guvamatanga

THOSE who are familiar with the dreadful history of Zimbabwe-US fragile relations would not be surprised by US Ambassador to Harare, Pamela Tremont’s recent dishonest and provocative statements on Chinese investments in the country.

There is a pattern to those utterances.

And the genesis of those fragile relations can be traced to the following:

Bordering on the often stifled but well-founded reality that the US is driven by fear of emerging global powers, Uncle Sam has been wantonly exporting its reckless aggression on those countries.

Zimbabwe has not been spared from that wanton madness and Tremont’s recent bizarre utterances last week where she claimed that Chinese investments in the country have not improved the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans buttress that point.

Both China and Zimbabwe are accused, by Uncle Sam, of posing an unusual and extraordinary threat to the US’ foreign policy — a policy premised on undermining other nations’ territorial integrity.

The US has been on an aggressive drive to destabilise Zimbabwe’s sovereignty since the turn of the millennium when it imposed illegal sanctions on the country on December 21 2001 for embarking on the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme in 2000.

Since then, the US has openly interfered in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs, openly supporting and endorsing opposition parties and elements bent on effecting regime change through illegal means by availing funding and ‘technical’ support.

The desire to disregard the country’s democratic processes has not ceased with the US brazenly trying to manipulate the SADC Troika during the 2023 harmonised elections.

Successive US ambassadors to Zimbabwe have been deployed with a specific mission to deny both the existence and impact of their sanctions while trying to effect regime change in the country.

As such, there cannot surely be any talk or even overtures to normalise relations between the two nations.

Zimbabwe cannot even entertain the idea that it can rely on the US as a partner.

Uncle Sam has demonstrated time and again that he does not deal in good faith.

And this is where our leaders and ZANU PF should grasp that Uncle Sam cannot be trusted by any means.

If anything, the awful thinking that it was only former President Robert Mugabe who was the ‘problem’ in the eyes of Uncle Sam must be culled.

Uncle Sam and the West do not want ZANU PF and progressive forces anywhere near power.

Let us all take heed!

And decipher Tremont’s malicious statements against the Chinese and against the country!

“The number of people living below the poverty datum line has doubled since 2011 despite significant Chinese investment here,” Tremont said during an interview with J.W. Oliver.

“Welfare equality in Zimbabwe is actually getting worse. The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer.

“Investors have come here without any guardrails, without any guarantees that what they are taking out of the country is benefitting the people of Zimbabwe. And so, a lot of that investment and job creation hasn’t really gone to benefit the people of Zimbabwe.”

Then the usual mud-slinging when Tremont shamelessly claimed child labour was rife in Zimbabwe:

“They (workers) work in horrific conditions, sometimes using child labour,” she said.

We will duly take her to task with undisputable facts on the ground.

In the first instance, Tremont’s anger against the Chinese stems from the fact that when her country unleashed its economic and political war on the country, it wanted to isolate Harare so that it could install a puppet Government led by the opposition.

That a whole ambassador can depart from diplomatic etiquette to pour vitriol on Zimbabwe-China relations is a declaration of unprovoked war on the two countries. It also means the gloves are off. It also means the journalists paid to rubbish Chinese investments have failed to deliver. It means Tremont is impatient with the pace of events and is throwing diplomatic caution to the wind. 

The US had an elaborate plan to reverse the land reform and take the lead in what they brandished as a ‘reconstruction’ programme under the post-Mugabe era as stated by former Secretary of State Collin Powell (now late) on June 4 2004.

This, too, is contained in the US sanctions law on Zimbabwe, ZDERA, which clearly states that ‘land ownership must revert to pre-1998 tenure patterns’. 

Meanwhile, the US was openly supporting the opposition and civil society organisations by availing huge sums of money for their regime change push.

Despite the continued failure of all those initiatives, the US has yet to relent.

A report by analyst Dereck Goto on Tremont’s remarks lays bare the folly of her attempt to lay siege on the Chinese.

“Contrary to Ambassador Tremont’s unfounded assertions, Chinese investments in Zimbabwe have been transformative, driving economic growth, modernising infrastructure and creating substantial employment opportunities,” says Goto.

“A prime example is the state-of-the-art Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, constructed with a US$200 million China grant. Equally noteworthy is the US$153 million expansion of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport which has revolutionised Zimbabwe’s global connectivity.

“Another monumental contribution is the US$1,5 billion Hwange Units 7 & 8 Power Development Project, which (has) added 600MW to Zimbabwe’s national grid.”

He goes on, extensively exploring Uncle Sam’s erratic pattern of suppressing rising global powers such as its shameless attempt to block popular social media Chinese application TikTok due to ‘security concerns’.

In Zimbabwe, Uncle Sam, however, finds no shame in disrespecting our peace and security through his continued funding of insurrection and violence, using their opposition cohorts as willing conduits.

This is where China and Uncle Sam differ.

Where China respects the country’s independence and freedom, Uncle Sam has no qualms in making the country ungovernable through an array of ‘strategies’ including sanctions and open support for unruly characters in the country. 

And no sane person will buy into Tremont’s attempt to sanitise relations between Harare and Washington by flaunting her country’s now tired claims that the US has been ‘the largest bilateral donor to Zimbabwe since 1980’.

We will remind her of the damage that has been wrought on Zimbabwe by her country’s illegal economic sanctions by way of lost potential revenue.

“What I would really like to do is to get the Zimbabwean Government to refocus away from our areas of disagreement and focus on what we can do to achieve our mutual goals,” she said last week.

“We have been the largest bilateral donor to Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980.”  

But she forgets to acknowledge one simple fact: Relations can only be restored to normalcy when Uncle Sam removes the illegal sanctions imposed on Harare.