All Zimbabwe Wants is to Freely Decide its Destiny

28 SEP, 2020 - 04:09 

Ranga Mataire, Writing Black

Herald

Zimbabwe is a unique country, so unique that a whole continent like Europe can sit down to discuss its fate and resolve to slap sanctions on this small nation south of the Sahara.

Of course, we know that our crime is not the so-called human rights violations.

No country is above some sort of governance blemish. So the issue is clearly not human rights violations, but the land. At least, some officials of some of the Western nations, including America, have come out in the open to say that Zimbabwe is a bad example of what not to do regarding to the land issue.

It was this awareness of the duplicitousness of the West and America, that President Mnangagwa called for respect of multilateralism as opposed to unilateralism. It was a message, which resonated with the theme of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations General

Assembly’s (UNGA) theme of; “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism” — confronting Covid-19 through effective multilateralism.

All Zimbabwe is asking is for a future free of sanctions. All Zimbabwe is asking is freedom to decide its destiny without being hamstrung by punitive unilateral sanctions that prove that the West is still keen on suppressing total freedom through an equitable redress of colonial iniquities.

President Mnangagwa’s message during the high level General Debate of the 75th UN General Assembly was unequivocal.

We can’t talk of multilateralism when other countries unilaterally slap sanctions on other nations for no apparent reason except that they dared challenge the status quo that favoured former colonisers.

Surely, this is not about human rights violations because if it, was then America should also face the same punitive measures given its bad record in violating the rights of black people.

Black people in America face systematic institutional racism, particularly from the police. There seems to be two justice systems in America.

One serving white people and the other for black people.

Surely, if it was about human rights violations, then people in Libya, Iran and other such nations where superpowers have caused much chaos and suffering should be clamouring for just treatment.

It has become embarrassing for both America and EU to talk about human rights violations in Zimbabwe when there are worse violations in other parts of the world.

Some missed the import of the President’s message. President Mnangagwa essentially appealed to the UN for support to end Western nations that he said were setting back development.

President Mnangagwa’s message was bolstered by the fact that not so long ago a UN report clearly stated that sanctions had a negative impact on the whole well-being of Zimbabwe.

“These are a breach of international law and compromise Zimbabwe’s capacity to implement and achieve Sustainable Development Goals, including eradication of hunger,” he said.

“We therefore call on the General Assembly to strongly pronounce itself against these unilateral illegal sanctions,” he said.

Zimbabwe has faced Western sanctions since the early 2000s couched as targeted, but have impacted devastatingly on the whole population .

A report in November by the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Madam Hilal Elver said that sanctions contributed to poor climate for business and investment.

“These economic sanctions worsen the existing inequalities and do not have any actual impact on their supposed target,” the rapporteur said in her report.

Our hope is that progressive nations in the UN took note of President Mnangagwa warning that humanity is currently at crossroads because of challenges that do not respect borders.

It is our hope that progressive nations in UN took note of President Mnangagwa’s warning that multilateralism is under threat from blind pursuit of narrow interest and therefore the need for strengthening international amity and goodwill as well as uphold mutual respect and observe the sovereign equality of States.

The call for multilateralism clearly leaves local opposition that seem to celebrate unilateral actions taken by America and the EU in sizes and sevens.

There is absolutely no place for bullying in international relations. Covid-19 sobered some nations that used to pride themselves as advanced and highly-industrialised to face any challenges — natural or made.

As Writing Back proponents, we applaud the stance taken by Chinese President Xi Jinping who in his address to the UN General Assembly emphasized that no nation can arrogate itself the role of policeman of the world.

There is surely no place for caustic and bombastic conduct in how states relate to one another. And nations must be given sovereign right to chart their own destiny.

Our hope is that United States Ambassador Brain Nichols will stand by his word in recognising the reforms that have so far been implemented by the Second Republic.

We also hope that Americans realise the benefits of mutual cooperation instead of being perennial adversaries.

America’s Trojan horse for regime change — the MDC in all its “smithereens” has proven to be an ineffectual puppet motivated more by the pursuit self-aggrandisement rather than serving a public good.

Time will tell if Zimbabwe and the US can chart a new path of mutual respect devoid of the condescending attitude of the later.

All Zimbabwe wants is to be given the sovereign right to chart it’s own trajectory.