U.S. waiver of sanctions regime for Mugabe officials slammed

U.S. waiver of sanctions regime for Mugabe officials slammed

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By Lebo Nkatazo

THE United States' waiver of its sanctions regime against President Robert Mugabe's closest lieutenants to allow Zimbabwe's Finance Minister and central bank governor to travel to Washington has been condemned as a "tragedy".

Herbert Murerwa, the country's Finance Minister and President Mugabe's personal banker, Gideon Gono, left Zimbabwe for Washington Sunday to meet with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday.

U.S. President George Bush signed an executive order last November freezing the U.S. assets of 128 people and 33 institutions in Zimbabwe. This expanded an original list of 77 people, including President Mugabe, whose assets were frozen in 2003.

Those on the list -- which includes Gono and Murerwa -- are also barred from travel in the United States except to United Nations functions.

Mutumwa Mawere, a prominent Zimbabwean businessman who won a major court victory in the United Kingdom last week against the seizure of his companies by Mugabe's government said the US could not claim it still had sanctions in place against Mugabe's government.

"It's a complete and total mockery for the US to keep telling us there are sanctions in place. It is now clear that the real sanctions are imposed by Zimbabwe and not by America," Mawere railed.

He added: "The premise on which the sanctions regime was constructed was merely as an irritation mechanism to target those Zimbabweans particularly black who cannot even travel from their residences in Zimbabwe to the shops but are banned from visiting the U.S.

"The real sanctions which have been imposed on Zimbabweans by Gono have seen millions of Zimbabweans being excluded from the market system due to a combination of hyper-inflation and structural economic problems.

"Those in the diaspora have been externalised through internally generated sanctions and the international community never pretended that they were serious about targeting the real engine that continues to sustain the economy when many Zimbabweans are desperate for a rainy day that seems now to be just a mirage."

A spokesman for the United States embassy in Harare confirmed Monday that they had waived the sanctions regime to allow Gono and Murerwa to travel to Washington.

Said the spokesman: "Individuals who are on the sanctions list can apply for a waiver if they have legitimate business such as meeting international bodies. The central bank governor and his delegation received waivers and were given visas for this specific trip to the IMF."

He added that the waiver is the same given to Mugabe when he visits the United Nations.

He added: "The sanctions are not against the government or country but individuals who prevent the return of effective government. They (RBZ delegation) are not there for pleasure or tourism. They are there for international business."

But Mawere, who now lives in Johannesburg after being specified by the Zimbabwean government and having his assets frozen, said the U.S. had seriously undermined it's sanctions against Mugabe's officials.

"People in Zimbabwe don't even know how their government operates but the IMF, albeit unelected, seems to have a better insight into the operations of the Zimbabwe government and that is the tragedy that Zimbabwe faces," he said.

Only last week, US President George Bush was lauding the effectiveness of the targeted sanctions against Mugabe's officials. Bush said those on the U.S. list were persons“contributing to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Zimbabwe."

The IMF executive board meets on Wednesday to review Zimbabwe's arrears to the Fund.

Zimbabwe is likely to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance, Murerwa said Sunday.

Murerwa said: "Although our voting rights have now been restored we need technical assistance and financial assistance.

"We know this will not be automatically restored but this is something we hope to negotiate... We will be meeting the board on Wednesday."

Zimbabwe survived the IMF axe last month after it settled its General Resources Account (GRA) when it made a $9m (€7.4m) payment which helped the southern African nation retain its membership of the IMF.

The body had threatened to expel Zimbabwe from its ranks for failing to pay back loans since 2001 but the southern African country managed to bounce back after making a series of surprise payments since last September.

Zimbabwe is in the throes of economic crisis characterised by runaway inflation, soaring poverty levels, an unemployment rate hovering at over 70% and chronic shortages of fuel and basic goods like cornmeal.
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