"Dear Zimbabwe US sanctions against Zimbabwe are not targeted. They affect all of us. Don't listen to the United States Embassy propaganda," Trevor Ncube said.
Ncube was speaking after the United States of America announced that it had fined Standard Chartered Bank US$18m for handling Zimbabwe transactions, in violation of the Zimbabwe Sanctions Regulations (ZSR).
Trevor Ncube is one of Mnangagwa's 24 President Advisory Council members and his interest in having the sanctions lifted is therefore self-evident. But even those who did not know of Ncube's close relationship with Mnangagwa they too would want Mr Ncube to answer a few questions:
1) How is the fining of Standard Bank affecting the ordinary Zimbabwean meaning the 90% unemployed, the ¾ of the population living on US$30 per month, etc.? The statement from the Americans is clear, bank was fined for handling transactions of those on the sanctions list. Povo are not on the sanctions list and have no money therefore have no business with the banks!
2) The sanctions were not imposed out of the blue. Mr Ncube should us if last July's elections were free, fair and credible and hence the sanctions should have been lifted? To argue that the sanctions are hurting the ordinary Zimbabweans but saying nothing about how much worse 38 years of rigged elections are hurting them is nonsense.
Actually, it seems the Americans are policing the targeted sanctions to make sure those on the list are not getting away with murder. Americans are now making the sanctions bite! Great!
The American should serious consider adding to the sanctions list people like Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister Coventry, the 24 President Advisory Council members, etc. These people are not only working hand in glove with the Zanu-PF dictatorship but worst of all they have all directly or indirectly refused to accept the political reality that the regime rigged last year's elections.
People like Ncube are calling for the lifting of the sanctions knowing fully well that as long as the Zanu-PF dictatorship remains in place Zimbabwe will never escape from the hell-on-earth Zanu-PF landed the nation into. They are benefiting from their appointment in the regime and that is all they care about.
The opposition leaders too should be added to the sanctions list. By participating in the country's flawed and illegal elections they are giving the process some modicum of credibility. Zanu-PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and the bait has worked. Last July there were 23 presidential candidates alone!
The imposed sanctions have been more symbolic than anything else because the West has never really done anything to make sure they hurt those on the list. President Trump's Admin has done things differently, they have tightened the screw.
ReplyDeleteStandard Bank was fined US$18 million for trading with people on the sanctions list; look more closely and one will probably find this has been going on ever since the sanctions were first imposed in 2001! The fine has forced everyone to seat up and pay attention! Those on the sanctions list will now find that it will not be business as usual.
Sanction means sanctions just as holding free, fair and credible elections should mean holding free, fair and credible elections. Those who ignoring the sanction just like rigging elections will from now on be punished.
Trevor Ncube is smart enough to know that life is going to get a lot more difficult for those on the sanctions list and he is trying to make us, ordinary Zimbabweans, believe that we too will suffer. All nonsense, we will not even notice it if Standard Bank closed shop today! Trevor Ncube would notice it and hence the reason the Americans should add him on the sanctions list!
@ Benzon
ReplyDelete“If what you are saying is true, that sanctions are targeted only on a few, can you please explain to me why my Son who is studying in Malaysia, he's 21 was denied the right to open an account because of sanctions in Zimbabwe,” you say.
There are many things you have not told us! To start with all those on the sanctions list have continued to do business with the rest of the world including Malaysia. It is no secret that Mugabe and his family and many others on the sanctions list have being going to Malaysia, Singapore, and many other countries for education, health care, etc. and have made these countries their own to escape poverty and the collapsed services in Zimbabwe. No doubt, you too have sent your son to Malaysia to student for the same reasons.
There must be so other reasons why your son was denied the reason to open a bank account. The targeted sanctions are not UN sanctions and Malaysia is not an American colony so why. There are Zimbabweans in America with bank accounts so why would the American object to Malaysia allowing your son open an account there when they would allow him to do so in the USA!
How many ordinary Zimbabweans, am talking of the ¾ of the population now living on US$30 per month or less, have their sons and daughters who are studying in Malaysia, SA or some such country? It is therefore nonsense to suggest the targeted sanctions are hurting the ordinary Zimbabweans.
The millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty as a consequence of Zanu PF rigging elections and not because of the sanctions. So it makes sense that anyone fighting for the ordinary people should demand free, fair and credible elections and support the imposed sanctions as a means of piling the pressure to end the curse of rigged elections.
Since you can afford to send your son to Malaysia you are certainly not affected by the decades of bad governance, indeed you are profiting from it! The overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans are suffering and even dying from the bad governance. You clearly do not give a damn about the suffering majority but, thank God, there are some who care!
HUNDREDS of formal jobs are on the line in the economy as various businesses grapple with the realities of hyperinflation and exchange rate-induced losses. The market has witnessed massive price hikes since the announcement of the October 2018 and February 2019 monitory policy statements by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
ReplyDeleteAccording to ZimStat, year-on-year inflation jumped from 5,39% in September 2018 to 20,85% in October 2018. Inflation closed the year at 42,09% and has increased sharply to 59,39% in February 2019
Zanu PF rigged the 2018 election confident that Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra would attract a flood of new investors his ex-University of Cambridge Professor Minister of Finance will sweet talk the IMF, WB, ADB, etc. into giving the country all the cash it wanted. None of these things happened. Investors and lenders do not do business with corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Zanu PF rigged the elections but cannot rig economic recovery.
The only way out of this mess is for Zanu PF to step down. Zanu PF has used brute force to maintain its iron grip on power, just like Omar Al-Bashir in Sudan has done in his 30 years in power. Where is Al-Bashir now? Mnangagwa is destined to go the same way too!
Mnangagwa fudged changed following the November 2017 coup, this time the nation will not be so easily fooled!
Believing that the Mnangagwa coup of 2017 was a fresh start for the country was certainly one of the biggest mistake the people of Zimbabwe have ever made. Removing one dictator only to replace him with another was not enough to transform the corrupt and murderous dictatorship into a democratic party. It is pleasing to note that so far the people of Sudan have avoided making the same foolish mistake.
ReplyDeleteDefence Minister Awad Ibn Auf announced his decision on state TV. He named as his successor Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan. It comes after protesters refused to leave the streets, saying the coup leaders were too close to Mr Bashir.
ReplyDeleteThe army has said it will stay in power for two years, followed by elections.
Replacing Omar Al Bashir with, first, his former Defence Minister Awad Ibn Auf and now this Lt Gen Abdel Burham, is an insult to the people. The people have been dying for real change and not to be presented with a fudge dressed up as change.
Sudan is in this economic and political mess because of the decades of military dictatorship of course it is nonsensical for the army to insist it is the one best place to end the mess when it has refused to accept all these years that it had failed.
The army has no business in political and governance matters best left to civilians elected by the people through free, fair and credible elections. The army should accept they had messed up big time, go back to the barracks and never ever again interfere in government.
It is pleasing to note that the people of Sudan have had the wit to stand their ground and refused to be hoodwinked the same way where hoodwinked following the November 2017 coup! Zimbabweans would promised a new dispensation and a second republic only to discover that it was the same corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. We had our noses rubbed into the bull when Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections!