Supporters of ZANU-PF march in 2010 against EU sanctions year. (REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo) A new regime of US sanctions has just been signed into law, opening a fresh front in the increasingly polarised political debate in Zimbabwe. Critics say they hurt the economy, while supporters say the measures are justified due to Zimbabwe’s human rights violations and its failure to deliver an uncontested poll.
In this special report,newZWirepieces together the history of US sanctions on Zimbabwe, the players involved over the years, the impact of the measures, and what Emmerson Mnangagwa plans to do about them. The first edition of ZIDERA was enacted in 2001, after violent land takeovers and elections in Zimbabwe, as well as the country’s involvement in the DRC war. The law was amended in 2018 to reflect updated demands for free elections, but broadly still retained its key requirements.
ZIDERA makes several demands, many of which are targeted at democratic and economic reforms. In summary, the law demanded that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission be independent (an earlier version of the amended bill demanded that ZEC be replaced by a new commission chosen by all parties in Parliament) that the military play no role in election campaigns, equal access to State media for all participating parties, and that ZEC releases both the provisional and the final voters’ rolls ahead of the poll. ZIDERA also demanded that the Zimbabwe Government apologise for the Gukurahundi atrocities, that Zimbabwe invites international observers for the polls, and that there be economic reforms, key being on the currency and changes at central bank.
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A lot of these demands resonate broadly with many in Zimbabwe, who live under the weight of the ruling ZANU-PF party’s economic mismanagement and political repression. While much of the demands under ZIDERA, such as democratic and economic reforms, easily fit with the demands of many ordinary Zimbabweans, also at the core of the law is a more controversial issue – land reform. After meeting President Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2018, then new US ambassador Brian Nichols mentioned “land tenure” as one of the areas in which the Americans want to see change. Land has been at the base of the law since 2001.
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