On sanctions, Mugabe and the economy

On sanctions, Mugabe and the economy

• Nobuhle Nyathi: It's Zanu PF not sanctions, stupid!

• Tawanda Hondora: Sanctions undermine economy

• US travel ban will hit ministers' families

• Switzerland bans Zimbabwe officials

• US announces assets freeze on Mugabe's men

• New Zealand bars Mugabe banker

• Belgium in visa snub for Zimbabwe minister

• Gono targeted in EU sanctions review

• Gono escapes as EU travel ban list extended

• Australia tightens Mugabe travel sanctions

• Mugabe invited Prince Charles to Harare!

• Prince Charles in Mugabe handshake row

• Foes reunited at Pope funeral

• Pope would have wanted Mugabe at funeral

• The 'unclean' among the 'clean' at the Vatican

• Mugabe in Vatican for Pope's funeral

• EU renews targeted sanctions against Mugabe

• Full text of EU sanctions renewal agreement

By Dr Alex T. Magaisa

I HAVE read Nobuhle Nyathi’s article with much interest. I have read Ms Nyathi’s previous works on this site. She writes well and passionately about issues affecting our country and as a fellow writer, I commend her efforts.

At the risk of sounding patronising, she is one of the more articulate writers. Regrettably, Ms Nyathi commits the elementary fault that so often stifles rational debate in Zimbabwean affairs by making unnecessary attacks on the person (or insinuations of that nature) rather than focussing primarily on the issues that she wishes to discuss. It is necessary not only to know what to say, but how that information is communicated. It is ironic that even the most fervent opponents of Mugabe commit the same tactical errors, wherein their otherwise plausible points are lost in the midst of high-sounding insults against the person. It reminds me most certainly of Professor Moyo’s remark on this website about what he termed a Tsikamutanda approach to politics and analysis whereby there is a tendency to seek the person and in the process lose the point.

I do not intend to fall into the same trap as I have already communicated my thoughts to Ms Nyathi and thankfully that matter has been resolved by a dignified apology for her misrepresentation of facts about my person. For the record, I am not at the University of Warwick and my views and opinions are in no way informed by my location or what it is that Ms Nyathi speculates I might partake so as to cause my alleged amnesia. Suffice to state that if Ms Nyathi does her research on the very same website on which she posts her articles, she would find that the many points that she raises have already been the subject of my analysis and we are on most points in agreement. I would refer her and other interested readers to my article published last week and is available from the archives of this website’s archives.

A clear reading and understanding of my articles in this series indicates that far from arguing that the problems in Zimbabwe are a direct result of the smart sanctions regime, I in fact argue that there is myriad of causal factors that must be taken into account in the future process of reconstruction of the economy. The departure of Mugabe, necessary as it is, is simply part of the process. I am more interested in searching for solutions on what will happen after his departure, regardless of who takes over. If someone thinks that it is a simple matter of getting rid of Mugabe and everything would become normal, then they are refusing to get a grip on the multiple factors (internal and external) that define the Zimbabwean condition.

The reason for my article on sanctions was not as Ms Nyathi insinuates, to suggest that they be lifted and when lifted all would be normal in Zimbabwe. I would not submit myself to that naïve route. The reason was to interrogate the measures that the country has had to deal with so far, today and will confront in the future. If we cannot identify these things and instead stick to the view shaped by our own local circumstances, without understanding the complexities of global political and economic marketplace then we will have serious problems. I have no capacity to singularly offer solutions but only offer to highlight the things that we have to deal with, sanctions included.

"Mugabe's departure, necessary as it is, is simply part of the process. I am more interested in searching for solutions on what will happen after his departure, regardless of who takes over"

DR ALEX MAGAISA

Elementary rules of comprehension inform us that when we read a text, we have to understand it in context and we must as far as possible attempt to understand the basic theme being articulated without getting stuck in selective quoting or summarising. It is also important to be able to correctly represent the view emanating form that article. This has nothing to do with any amount of academic posturing because it is not necessary unless someone wants to believe that it is. It seems to me that Ms Nyathi misreads my article when she states that my main point was that “the reason why Zimbabwe was having economic problems was largely because of the targeted sanctions on Zanu PF officials.”

At no point in my article do I say in such bold and absolute terms that smart sanctions are the main cause of Zimbabwe’s problems and my articles are there for all to see. On the contrary I was at pains to point out that the problems were largely internal and arising from policy inconsistencies of the government but also that we cannot dismiss the effect of smart sanctions to the consequent demise in recent times.

My aim was to deconstruct the concept of “smart sanctions” and suggest that if their effect is to limit the damage to the targeted persons, they have certainly failed on two grounds: Firstly, because contrary to their intended character of “smartness” their effect goes beyond these targeted persons and secondly, to the extent that the targeted persons have been able to circumvent the smart sanctions in one way or another, they have not achieved their purpose. The result however is that the common population suffers. Is this what was intended.

Even if they are not the primary causes of the problems (and we agree on this), they have nonetheless exacerbated the situation. Ms Nyathi does not respond to these points in any detail but instead generalises that I argued that sanctions are largely to blame for the problems. It would have been more interesting to debate and get Ms Nyathi’s view on such other points that I raised on the possible weakening on civil society by the economic difficulties as people retreat from the mainstream, the manipulation of sanctions by the ruling party for political gain, etc. My article was not simply a narrow assessment of the relationship between sanctions and the economy but the consequent effect on the democratic process. That and other points were obviously missed but hopefully someone will interrogate them further in the pursuit of constructive debate.

In any event most of her article responds to Mr Hondora’s article. Mr Hondora’s article is separate from mine and although they may meet at certain points, they are certainly different pieces articulated differently. It is neither fair nor accurate to attribute to one views of another simply because they seem to discuss the same issue and appear to be located at the same institution. Perhaps because Ms Nyathi initially thought that we were coming from the same institution, she assumed that we were writing from a common position and therefore could apply the rule of attribution in relation to the separate views. But that is the danger of making assumptions or relying principally on the Internet as a source of research.

Finally, since Ms Nyathi does not deal with the points raised in my article in more detail save for the generalisation based on incorrect assumptions referred to above, it is difficult for me to respond more comprehensively and I will leave it to Mr Hondora whose article Ms Nyathi focuses on in most of her article. A further articulation of the issues pursued in my series is contained in the other article on the poverty of isolation also on this website today.
Dr Magaisa is a Zimbabwean financial lawyer. He can be reached at: wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com