For last past decade there had been speculations that Zimbabwe is under sanctions. This is as a result of Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) of 2001. According to Wikipedia "It is the policy of the United States to support the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve broad-based and equitable economic growth, and restore the rule of law.” The act proceeds to state that it holds the leadership of Zimbabwe accountable and any other country that chooses to provide any form of assistance to the leadership of Zimbabwe; will face the wrath of the U.S. Government. That is why, it is not surprising, not long ago last year when the Presidential Team was scheduled to be in Sweden for the UN Summit, President Robert Mugabe, the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and a few selected Cabinet Ministers where refused entry by the Swedish Government to attend the Summit hosted by the U.N., a non-political organization.
I am not a politician, nor a political analyst, however, it does not take a political scientist to figure out that the U.S. wants some piece of action from the economic resource-rich country under the guise of transition to democracy Act. The U.S has allowed De facto one-party government such as Libya and Iraq for such a long time without such sanctions against them. Perhaps, that is because both countries have oil so it make common sense for the U.S. to have U.S. military bases in those countries to physically protect their interest. What makes the story of Zimbabwe interesting is that, it does not have oil so we should not expect any U.S. troops landing into the country under the guise of protecting the people of Zimbabwe. In addition, it doesn’t help that since President Barak Obama was elected into the Presidential office since 2008, he has neither acted nor said anything with respect to removing this Bill. After all, most would expect a first generation African American to be more in touch with the plight of the Zimbabwean people just by the virtue of the color of his skin. Think again. In fact, in 2001 when the Bill was passed wasn’t Obama a Senate in the House of Representatives? So, he already has his signature on the Bill prior to being the most powerful man in the World….
But all is not lost, thanks to the African Commission founded in 2008 and headed up by the Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen, Zimbabwe has an ally to assist in restoring it socio-economic health in spite of the complex nature of the Political environment. What I like about the African Commission is that it leaves the politics to the politicians, and instead becomes a goodwill ambassador in the development of human capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa through its initiatives. It seeks to revisit and relook the poverty alleviation framework of Development Aid for the region and replace it with a private sector-led framework that empowers the region to be less dependent on Development Aid. It offers solutions to the region where it makes the individuals and private sector the recipients and custodians of financial assistance and not the Government as per the original Development Aid model. The African Commission follows the same ethos as the International Finance Cooperation (IFC). So, why are they so special? Because IFC has the U.S as a major partner and remember any influence the U.S. has on an international organization, ZDERA is in full force. Thank goodness for DANIDA for coming up with the African Commission and encouraging the participants of influential Sub-Saharan leaders.
Whilst this offers some form of peace of the mind, in the minds of Zimbabweans, it is important that the leaders of the tomorrow i.e. the African Youth adopt ‘the Jewish Phenomenon’ approach in protecting Africa from opportunists who come with an olive branch. Steven Silbiger, the Author of THE JEWISH PHENOMENON came up with 7 points of why the Jews in America and worldwide continue to endure wealth. Point 2: Take Care of Your Own and They Will Take Care of You resonated with me the most. You see, according to the author who is also Jewish, he states that Jews understand that when the community serves itself, it also controls its own destiny. That means, as long as we are not willing to sacrifice our personal luxuries and direct some of our funds in building our nation; as opposed to receiving it from outsiders; we will continue to suffer as we become subordinates to the funding group. As the Jewish proverb states: He who pays has the say.
So RISE UP Zimbabwe, let’s get rid of ‘the damsel-in-distress’ syndrome and start supporting our own communities by patronizing Zimbabwean Businesses only.
Copyright @ 22 January 2012. BlogSpot by Tambudzai Ndoro, Strategist at Hanga Consulting and Principal Director of Ndoro Resources (PVT) Ltd, (2011)
