Published by the government of Zimbabwe
28 January 2008
Harare — CLAIMS by the United States that Washington did not impose sanctions on Zimbabwe have been further discredited following revelations that the US Treasury directed a leading online payment facility not to do business with Zimbabwean individuals and corporate bodies operating from Zimbabwe.
According to information at hand, the US Treasury instructed PayPal, a California-based company, not to allow Zimbabweans in their home country to open online trading accounts with them.
Founded in 1998, PayPal is the world's largest "middleman" service for Internet trade with over 100 million users across the globe, meaning that Zimbabwe's exclusion deprives the country of significant foreign currency earnings.
Investigations carried out by The Herald indicate that Zimbabwean businesspersons interested in setting up PayPal accounts had been informed by the company that a US Treasury Department instruction prohibited them from doing business with the country.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a marketing executive with a leading supermarket chain located in Harare, said: "If you look at our website you will notice that there is a section where we encourage potential clients to purchase online. But if you try to do so, whether you are in Zimbabwe or outside you will not be able to do so because PayPal refused to set up the account.
"What we were made to understand is that if you are in Zimbabwe you cannot set up an account to receive or send money online using PayPal.
"If we were to set up our website from South Africa or any other country they would let us open an account but that would mean opening a branch there and that is not in our plans."
She added: "Zimbabwe has a huge community living outside its borders and this facility would give them the opportunity to buy goods directly from us for their friends and families here.
"It is a big, big market that can bring foreign currency into the country using formal structures and thereby helping the economy but we have been denied this opportunity."
A Harare-based Internet solutions expert, Mr Dereck Goto, said a number of his clients had complained to him that they could not set up PayPal accounts and he had consequently advised them to use alternative online payment and receiving facilities, though they were not as reputable.
"Though there are other facilities for purchasing and paying for goods and services online, PayPal is really big and has more users than any of the others. In terms of market share, PayPal has far more users and hence there are millions more potential clients that can be accessed through this particular facility.
"The information that I have is that there is a US Treasury directive barring PayPal from dealing directly with Zimbabweans. It is simply impossible to set up an account from Zimbabwe. Around 2002 it was possible to do this. Unfortunately, I don't know right now if those accounts opened a few years ago are still functioning or they were shut down."
Questions sent to PayPal weeks ago had not been responded to at the time of going to press.
The assistant public affairs officer with the US Embassy in Harare, Mr Mark Weinberg, said it was not American government policy to bar businesses from dealing with Zimbabweans in any way.
Interestingly though, this is not the first time that a leading company has told Zimbabweans that the US Treasury barred them from transacting with Zimbabwe.
In 2005, an official with Africa University's information technology department told former US ambassador Christopher Dell to his face that Microsoft, the world leader in the field, was instructed by the Treasury Department not to co-operate with the institution.
Ironically, AU was established by and is still strongly supported by American-based Methodists. Responding to this, Mr Weinberg more or less admitted that the Treasury Department had, in fact, instructed Microsoft to steer clear of Zimbabwe.
He said: "With regard to the Microsoft case, it is my understanding that Microsoft reversed its position after discussions with them clarified US policy. I do not have any more information on the AU-Microsoft case and if you want more information you could contact Africa University or Microsoft."
Neither was reachable for a reaction to this statement.
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