NOTWITHSTANDING the many shortcomings of western sanctions on Zimbabwe, there are few subjects on which those who dislike the Red Devils spout as much twaddle as they do on these measures.
This is despite the clear and abundant evidence here and around the world which shows that sanctions are by and large ineffective blunt instruments that tend to produce undesirable consequences.
In the case of our teapot country, it is irrefutable that sanctions have served to magnify the economic pain of ordinary Zimbos over the past two decades — with virtually all of the people who were intended to be punished by the embargoes continuing to live their fabulous lives.
On the political side, all that the eagle-eyed Video Assistant Referee has seen since sanctions were imposed on Harare is a hardening of attitudes among the Red Devils, and for a long time until recently, even a bolstering of authoritarian tendencies.
Clear-headed Viper
But even as Mazizi continue to rage emotionally, and to miss the forest for the trees on this crucial issue, the under pressure owner of the Cult himself must be given full credit for repeatedly, clearly and openly expressing his opposition to sanctions.
Asked by one of his many Twitter followers to “come clean on sanctions”, Copperhead said unequivocally in July this year: “Sanctions must go yesterday”. Bravo to him. Indeed, and while there is a lot to be unhappy with about the state of many things in Zimbabwe, it surely takes a special breed of boneheads to hate their country to the extent of celebrating unilateral sanctions on their nation.
The Problem With Sanctions
In a recent paper on the impact of economic sanctions on poverty and economic growth by Dylan O’Driscoll of the University of Manchester, one of the key findings was that such punitive measures not only lead to an increase in the poverty gap, but also impact the most on the poorest sections of the population.
In this regard, O’Driscoll established that for the most part sanctions failed to achieve their aims, with elites managing to negotiate the measures’ adverse effects to a far greater level than poorer citizens. Thus, he added, sanctions had a damaging effect on income inequality and also impacted ordinary people more than the sanctioned country’s leaders.
Worse still, sanctions tended to harm rural and non-industrialised areas more, as resources were often refocused in power and production centres. O’Driscoll also found that between 1976 and 2012, UN sanctions, for example, had led to a 25,5 percent aggregate decline in GDP per capita of the sanctioned countries.
Further, the negative impact that sanctions had on economic growth affected women, minorities and other marginalised groups to a much greater extent than they did to elites.
Local Business Speaks
VAR was very happy to see yesterday that the local private sector is beginning to speak out publicly, as they should, against the West’s damaging sanctions.
The iconic and authoritative Pink Paper — the voice of local business — quoted leaders of Zimbabwe’s commerce and industry saying on the record that the sanctions on Zimbabwe had dented the country’s investment appeal and debt profile, making it difficult for the private sector to access affordable credit lines. They also said very forthrightly that the impact of the sanctions on the economy, and on commerce and industry, was “undeniable”.
This came amid estimates that the cost of American sanctions on Zimbabwe’s crucial banking industry alone was in excess of US$1 billion a year — taking into account the difficulties and high costs associated with transferring money, and the fact that the country now had limited access to the Swift system — the largest and most streamlined method for international payments and settlements. One expert noted that the inclusion of strategic entities like the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation on the sanctions list affected every Zimbabwean in a direct, blunt and tangible way given their roles.
With minerals being the country’s biggest export earner, in addition to contributing substantially to GDP, this meant that this key sector’s potential could not be fully realised if they remained under sanctions. Worse still, the expert observed, this state of affairs promoted illegal and underground mineral sales, which fostered corruption and a lack of accountability. Pay attention Mazizi!
Until next Friday, Azishe