Has anybody in the S A Government bothered to study the sanctions against Zimbabwe because of its human rights breaches? Has anybody at the Pan African Parliament (PAP) checked on what the sanctions are? Has anybody at the SA Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum looked at them? Evidently, the answer to these questions must be “No.”

In October, National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo, according to a report by Baldwin Ndaba in The Star, tabled a motion in the PAP urging members of the PAP to “demand the immediate lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.”

At the 46th Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, an MP from Angola, Josefina Perpetua Pitra Diakite tabled a similar motion calling for the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe. She received important support from South Africa’s Speaker Thandi Modise. Masondo knows little about foreign affairs and it seems the same applies to Modise.

She said, according to Ndaba’s report, “We …say to our brothers, our sisters, our neighbours… your pain is our pain…Without South Africa standing up…the economic progress of the region will be retarded… child mortality, of hunger, will continue to besiege the region.”

Speaker Modise was echoing the similarly ignorant statement by Diakite who said, “economic sanctions had negatively affected people’s livelihoods, economic development and access to health…(they) are a violation of the human, economic and social rights of the people of Zimbabwe and have a negative impact on the government’s efforts to leverage the economy and boost the living standards of the Zimbabwean people.”

How can they talk such nonsense? They provide an excuse for continued misgovernment and human rights abuses by the Mnangagwa government. He was Robert Mugabe’s side-kick for decades and thus co-responsible for the mess made of a wonderful country with great potential.

Sanctions do not affect any of the things mentioned. They are sanctions which target specific companies, politicians and military people who plundered the country and ignored the rights of the people.

BBC Reality Check said on 25 October 2019 that EU sanctions target specific individuals in the Zimbabwean government and associated with it. Travel restrictions and a freeze on assets have been imposed, along with the sale of military hardware and equipment which might be used for internal repression. Originally imposed during the era of former President Robert Mugabe, these sanctions were reviewed earlier this year and have been extended until February 2020. The EU says these restrictions have no impact on the economy of the country.

“US sanctions (target) … certain individuals and certain corporations… not… the country of Zimbabwe. There is nothing to stop US businesses from investing in Zimbabwe…" said US Assistant Secretary of State on African Affairs Tibor Nagy. Washington says the economic impact is mostly on farms and companies owned by these designated individuals. The US also imposed a ban on arms exports to Zimbabwe.

Carren Pindiriri, a lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Zimbabwe recently stated, according to the BBC, that data from 1980 to 2015 shows no evidence sanctions had a negative effect on formal employment and poverty, says

Bloomberg said this month the World Food Programme (WFP) will double the number of Zimbabweans receiving emergency food aid; half of the 14-million population face severe hunger. The WFP reported on 1 December the contributions of its 2019 donors.  The top 5 were: USA: $2.9billion; Germany $821m; UK $602 m; EU $522m and Saudi Arabia $378m.

Instead of spreading the sanction story, these well-meaning people should pressure the Zimbabwe government to restore human rights as a priority, and thank the donor nations who help save our friends, neighbours and relatives in Zimbabwe from starving largely as a result of catastrophic mismanagement of the country over so many years.

Douglas Gibson is a former opposition chief whip and a former ambassador to Thailand. His website is douglasgibsonsouthafrica.com

This article first appeared in The Star newspaper.