Published by the government of Zimbabwe
12 November 2009
Harare — MDC-T is reportedly divided on how to tackle the issue of illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe ahead of crucial inter-party meetings to be held before the weekend.
Sources within MDC-T said this week that party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti were on a collision course, differing on the centrality of sanctions to the survival of the inclusive Government.
The economic sanctions issue are the major outstanding issue in the Global Political Agreement and Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations had agreed they should be removed.
The sources said Mr Tsvangirai was reluctant to lobby for the removal of the illegal sanctions, while Mr Biti -- who is the Minister of Finance -- believed the illegal embargo was retarding economic growth.
"The (MDC-T) president does not recognise that there are sanctions on the country, but the secretary-general is acknowledging that sanctions are there and they are causing unwarranted suffering to the people.
"He says they are making his job as Finance Minister much harder and he would like them (sanctions) to go as soon as possible," said one source.
"The disagreements between the two (Tsvangirai and Biti) started after the Maputo meeting (of the Sadc Troika) where they were urged to work with other parties in the inclusive Government to resolve all outstanding issues arising from the GPA within 15 days."
The Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, which met in Mozambique last week, resolved that the parties in the inclusive Government should engage in dialogue to implement all outstanding issues attendant to the GPA and the January 27, 2009, Sadc Communiqué within 15 days.
Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC are expected to meet before the weekend to discuss the outstanding issues including the contentious illegal economic sanctions.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Mr Tsvangirai's spokesperson, Mr James Maridadi, took his boss' line and denied the existence of sanctions.
He said he had only heard about sanctions in The Herald.
This is despite the fact that his superior agreed in the GPA that sanctions were real and he would work to have them lifted.
"Which sanctions? I am not aware of them, I only read about them in your newspaper," Mr Maridadi said.
Asked on the nature of the relationship between Mr Tsvangirai and Minister Mr Biti, Mr Maridadi could neither deny nor confirm that the relations between the two had strained, adding that he did not want to comment on the issue.
Minister Biti could not be reached for comment yesterday.
His secretary said he was in a meeting and repeated attempts thereafter to get a comment were met with the response: "Leave your details and we will get back to you."
In August Minister Biti tabled a document before Cabinet acknowledging the existence of sanctions and the need to have them lifted.
The document titled "Debts and Arrears Clearance Strategy" said his national economic plan would only work if sanctions, particularly those imposed by the United States, were lifted.
He, however, said such personalities as former Zambian president Dr Kenneth Kaunda, ex-US leader Jimmy Carter and former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan could be engaged to have the embargo lifted.
According to the GPA, MDC-T should play a central role in lobbying for the lifting of the illegal and widely discredited sanctions regime.
Mr Tsvangirai, whose party lobbied for the sanctions, has largely shied from admitting to the reality of the embargo, preferring to call them "restrictive measures" even when the US has in the past said itself that it has sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Last month, senior MDC-T official Mr Giles Mutsekwa, who is a co-Minister of Home Affairs, said sanctions were negatively affecting the operations and the welfare of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and its personnel.
Addressing fellow Home Affairs ministers at an Interpol conference in Singapore, Minister Mutsekwa admitted that sanctions were real and harmful.
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Biti never drafted Zidera. Lies.
At least you agree the sanctions are legal.
So to simplify, it sounds like what you are saying is that anyone who does not believes the lies of Mugabe and the Herald is a witch, a criminal, and an idiot. That's a pretty juvenile argument, don't you think? You give no evidence of the existence of these so called "illegal" sanctions, nor any discussion of exactly what effects they are having on normal people if they do exist.
We all know that Mugabe can no longer go shopping or spend the ILLEGAL money that he has stashed in Paris, London or New York because of TARGETED sanctions against him personally as well as a few hundred other ZANU-PF criminals; but how does this effect the common man in ZImbabwe? No more designer handbags brought in from Paris on the presidential jet? Seriously, I'd like to hear you explain a single way that TARGETED sanctions on these INDIVIDUALS effects the rest of the country? The only one that I can think of is the fact that the president is publicly considered an evil person in many other countries. Too bad, he deserves it.
You also seem to be confused about what constitutes a sanction. According to the dictionary it is:
sanc⋅tion noun A coercive measure adopted usually by several nations acting together against a nation violating international law.
co⋅erce verb To bring about through the use of force or other forms of compulsion; exact: to coerce obedience.
If you apply this definition to Zimbabwe as a whole, you will have to agree that, other then an arms embargo by certain countries, there are no sanctions against the whole country of Zimbabwe. If so, please supply a link or at least a description of what exactly those sanctions consist of. There are no laws in any country forbidding commerce with Zimbabwe. No country prevents it's private banks from accepting deposits, nor making loans to Zimbabwe. If so, please tell me what they are and in which countries, and how that effects the country of Zimbabwe as a whole? Even the IMF has lent Zimbabwe money lately.
Or, are you alleging that an arms embargo is effecting the economy of Zimbabwe? Please explain? China, for one, certainly remains happy to sell bullets to Mugabe.
You also continue to peddle the fabrication that Tsvangirai is responsible for the nonexistent sanctions on Zimbabwe as well as the TARGETED sanctions on Mugabe and his gang of thugs. This is preposterous. You accord too much power to your enemy. Your argument assumes that the legislatures of other countries are populated by simpletons who are easily led to do things for the powerful Morgan Tsvangirai and his right hand man Tendi Biti.
I'm not positive, but wasn't Tsvangirai busy defending himself in court against a trumped-up charge of treason when all these TARGETED sanctions were passed?
You also continue to refer to ZIDERA as a sanction and to claim that it was written by Biti. ZEDERA was written by Donald Payne, an African-American, US Congressman. The vote in the House was 369 votes FOR, and 11 votes AGAINST. Every single member of the Congressional Black Caucus voted FOR. ZIDERA is not a sanction, merely an instruction to the US representatives at the World Bank, the IMF and other international lending institutions to vote against Zimbabwe's applications for loans and assistance until the country holds free and fair, internationally recognized elections; and adheres to the rule of it's own laws. Neither of which have yet to occur.
It should be noted that the US does not have a veto at any of these institutions. So practically speaking, even if the US were to vote against Zimbabwe, the measure could still pass. In fact, the US has publicly stated they have never exercised their right to vote NO against Zimbabwe. The reason that Zimbabwe can't get loans is simply because it hasn't paid back the old loans which Mugabe used to fund corrupt activities.
Rather then calling people names, perhaps you should try to strengthen your position by constructing an intelligent argument that supports your point of view of this complex issue. I'd love to hear it.
Illegal economic sanctions?
How the hell are they illegal?
There is no doubt that sanctions are real and sanctions are harmful to the wellbeing of Zimbabweans and the country as a whole. Anyone who does not acknowledge the existence of sanctions is a witch, is a criminal and above all is a stupid idiotic fool full of foolishness. Such a person is like a snake that kills what it does not eat.
That is the same with Tsvangirai; he is only interested in seeing people dying from the effects of sanctions as long as he gets political mileage out of it. How else could one explain his denial of the existence of sanctions when it was him who campaigned for same?
He went from one western capital to another asking and lobbying imperialists to impose sanctions on the people of Zimbabwe so that, through the suffering of ordinary Zimbabwean voters, he could be voted into power.
Biti, one of those that drafted ZiDERA, is acknowledging their existence and the effect that these sanctions have had on our economy and yet a retarded foolish idiot like "Boycott" Tsvangi has decided to continue denying their existence, WHY? NOKUTI CHIKWAMBO CHAKE CHIRI KUSVETA ROPA REVANA VEZIMBABWE (Because his gobllin is surviving on Zimbabweans' blood). Muroyi womunhu!!!