THE MDC-Alliance invited sanctions on Zimbabwe in an act of political expediency, resulting in the United States passing the amended Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Amendment Act (zdera), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo said.
Last Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed the zdera Act of 2018 (S2779) into law effectively extending US sanctions.
This was after MDC-Alliance leaders Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti engaged different officials in the US Congress late last year to extend the sanctions.
According to State media, Dr Moyo said political contestation must never suppress national interests.
“Politics in a country should not lead to the suffering of the masses,” he said. “The MDC-Alliance does not understand this as their political contestation is suppressing national interests.
“The sanctions are for the benefit of the MDC-Alliance, not for the ordinary person suffering on the streets. If people suffer because of you then you are not a leader.”
Dr Moyo noted that most Zimbabweans voted for President Mnangagwa and zanu-pf in a free and fair election that was marked by peace.
“The rule of law, freedom of expression, free and fair elections have already been accomplished in the new dispensation,” he said. “The MDC-Alliance is now calling upon external publics for political expediency.”
Dr Moyo said the MDC-Alliance was power-hungry and would, therefore, stop at nothing to attain power even if it meant destroying the nation.
“You cannot burn down the whole house when angry,” he said, in reference the MDC-Alliance officials’ widely detested behaviour.
Mr Simba Mhuriro (32), the founder and managing director of Oxygen Energy (Private) Limited, an independent power producer and renewable energy development company, who was earlier this year named by Forbes Magazine as one of Africa’s 30 most promising young entrepreneurs, said it was treasonous for anyone to invite sanctions on his or her own country.
“Sanctions are killing the nation and the ordinary man,” he said. “Citizens who lobby for sanctions should be charged with treason.”
The president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Matabeleland Chapter, Mr Joseph Gunda, also denounced sanctions.
“Zimbabweans really need to petition the US government to remove these sanctions that are impacting negatively on the growth of the economy,” he said. “Enterprise will bring employment and not politics and if enterprise suffers then there are no jobs.”
Mr Enock Dongo, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Nurses’ Association, said sanctions affected the ordinary person, not the intended tar- gets.
“The people calling for sanctions can send their families for treatment and education abroad,” he said. “The ordinary man cannot get Panadol at the local clinic because of sanctions.”
