A United States government official said the Zimbabwe Development and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) is not a sanction.
ZDERA was signed into law on 21 December 2001 by then United States President George W. Bush in response to Zimbabwe’s “fast-track land reform” programme.
The Act restricted Zimbabwe’s participation in programs by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund. It also resulted in the suspension of structural loans, credits, and guarantees to the Zimbabwean government.
Speaking at a press conference at Crowne Plaza in Harare on Wednesday, 06 March, Laurence Socha, the Chargé d’Affaires at the United States Embassy in Zimbabwe said that Zimbabwe’s economic problems were caused by mismanagement and widespread corruption, and not by ZDERA. He said:
The Zimbabwe Development and Economic Recovery Act has not changed. But ZDERA is not a sanction. We have never invoked ZDERA to oppose international financial institutions from loans or debt restructuring.
It outlines, ZDERA outlines a clear roadmap for the government of Zimbabwe to access concessional financing and possible debt restructuring.
But this can only happen once the government of Zimbabwe has paid its outstanding debt arrears to the International Community. Messaging on ZDERA might be catchy, but ZDERA is not the problem.
ZDERA is not the cause of Zimbabwe’s economic troubles. Decades of economic mismanagement and widespread corruption are, and they have directly caused lasting economic impacts.
On Monday, 04 March, the U.S. government sanctioned President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, and 9 other influential Zimbabweans under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
The U.S. government accuses Mnangagwa and the other 10 sanctioned individuals of egregious corruption and violating human rights.
Responding to a question about why the U.S. government decided to impose targetted sanctions on certain individuals at this point, Socha said:
President Biden has determined that the authorities in the executive orders that he signed that implement the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act is the best approach to address human rights and corruption concerns in Zimbabwe.
The US has made regular adjustments to the previously now terminated Zimbabwe sanctions program including adding and removing individuals based on available evidence. U.S. sanctions are not intended to be permanent.
Our sanctions are most effective when they are up to date and reflect realities on the ground and that’s why we made the change this time.
Socha reiterated the U.S. government’s stance that there are no sanctions on the people of Zimbabwe or its public. He said:
There are no sanctions on the people of Zimbabwe or its public. I think it’s important to realize that the security and prosperity of a country are not dependent on one individual alone.
The 11 individuals and three entities that are now sanctioned under Global Magnitsky have been determined to be responsible for corruption and human rights abuses.
But I want to leave you with this. We see this as an opportunity. We know it’s an opportunity. We see it as an opening.
We see it as an opportunity for the Government of Zimbabwe to make good on the democratic reforms that it says
it’s committed to. We see it as an opportunity for business to have a new look at Zimbabwe.
It was hard under the previous program titled the Zimbabwe Sanctions Program to get away from perceptions that you could not do business in Zimbabwe. That’s not true.
And so we hope that business and financial institutions have a new look at Zimbabwe’s markets and connections with its people.
But lastly, we see this as an opening for a constructive relationship between the people of the United States and Zimbabwe so that all 16 million people here have the opportunity to prosper.
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