MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere has said sanctions have a wider effect on Zimbabwe’s engagement policy, and took a swipe at Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana who scoffed at the effect of sanctions on top security chiefs.
Mangwana said the four who were slapped by U.K. sanctions this week have no intention whatsoever of visiting the U.K. and hold no assets there, hence they are personally not affected by the targeted measures.
Responding to Mangwana, Mahere might have misfired after she said Mangwana, Zimbabwe’s secretary for Information, did not comprehend the wider effects of United Kingdom’s sanctions recently imposed on four Zimbabwean security chiefs.
Mahere said the sanctions had a negative impact on the engagement and re-engagement agenda which President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration embarked on in 2017. Mahere said:
It’s a matter of regret that @nickmangwana doesn’t understand the wider diplomatic meaning of these targeted sanctions. They’re an indictment on @edmnangagwa‘s regime. Re-engagement failed. The world sees this violent, corrupt dictatorship for what it is. We need new leaders.
Ironically, the opposition MDC has always said targeted sanctions do not have an impact on Zimbabwe at large saying “they only affect the targeted people in the ruling ZANU PF.”
On the other hand, ZANU PF has been saying the sanctions have been hurting the economy and the general populace.
The UK said the sanctions were attracted by a gross violation of human rights since 2017 by institutions headed by the state security minister Owen Ncube, CIO boss Isaac Moyo, police chief Godwin Matanga and former presidential guard commander Anselem Sanyatwe.
Meanwhile, former MDC spokesperson, Obert Gutu said the issue is not about human rights but Zimbabwe’s resources. He said:
You think they love you so much when they shout “human rights are being trampled upon”? No! They don’t love you! They love your natural resources! They love your land! They would rather you’re their surrogate state, their client state, taking & implementing instructions from them.
Sanctions were first imposed on Zimbabwe at the turn of the millennium when Robert Mugabe’s administration embarked on a chaotic land reform programme during which many white farmers lost their land.
