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(HERALD) Sanctions hit local British pensioners

Sanctions hit local British pensioners
Tribune-Herald Reporter.

THE Western-imposed economic sanctions have hit pensioners hard, prompting the British government to airlift the first five of its 500 elderly citizens resident in Zimbabwe, whose pensions and investments were wiped out by the ravages of hyperinflation.

Economists say hyperinflation spawned by the illegal sanctions wiped out over 90 percent of working capital for every business and shop in Zimbabwe and was particularly vicious on pensions and individual investments, which were rendered worthless.

In February, Britain offered its citizens living in Zimbabwe a resettlement package to escape the prevailing economic problems.

Britain’s emergency measure to airlift its citizens came as increasing numbers of Britons approached the British embassy in Harare asking for help to leave.

Up to 5 000 elderly and infirm Britons were expected to take advantage of the British government’s "Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme", though only 500 are said to have signed up.

Observers have, however, expressed outrage over the British move saying the sanctions are colour blind as they have affected millions of black families as well, many of whom live on less than US$1 a day.

They said the repatriation showed shocking double standards as it showed that London was acknowledging the ruinous nature of the sanctions, yet it was keen to maintain them against black Zimbabweans.

‘‘Instead of airlifting its white citizens, Britain should spearhead the removal of the sanctions to enable the majority black Zimbabweans to live a better life as well,’’ charged Mr Reketai Chimbiro of Mabvuku.

Mr Cremio Risinamhodzi of the University of Zimbabwe said the British move should be a wake-up call to some black Zimbabweans who saw the British as messiahs.

‘‘When the story first surfaced that the British government wanted to repatriate its senior citizens, I remember reading that Western agencies had cushioned many of the white pensioners from the ravages of hyperinflation, yet they were not similarly inclined where black pensioners are concerned.’’

Those being repatriated, though resident in Zimbabwe, hold United Kingdom passports.

In his testimony to the US Senate in September 2001, ahead of the passing of the US sanctions, the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker called for the annihilation of the Zimbabwean economy.

Crocker said, ‘‘to separate the Zimbabwean people from Robert Mugabe, we are going to have to make the economy scream. And I hope you, Senators, have the stomach for it.’’

One of the senior citizens hard-hit by the screaming economy, Anne Budden (80) is leaving the land of her birth because she can no longer bear to be "a burden on my daughters in Zimbabwe".

"Their husbands are nearing retirement age. They keep on saying I should change my mind, but I must go.

"My hip operation took my last money. Our three pensions, on which we lived well, disappeared about five years ago. When Zimbabwe changed to US dollars in February, Caltex (her late husband’s former employer) cancelled my medical aid."

Budden, widowed two years ago, lives in a rented flat paid for by her daughter in the UK.

"I have had a lovely life, shielded from what is going on outside, with space, nice people and my own garden, and I will miss that, and especially my two daughters in Zimbabwe.

"I am leaving the country of my birth, but going to the land of my ancestors; I love the Queen and have a daughter in the UK."

Budden, daughter of the military commander of British forces in the old Southern Rhodesia, has chosen to live west of London, far from her daughter, to be next door to a friend from Harare, who was also due to be repatriated on Sunday.

"I feel so very, very sorry about the suffering of black people in Zimbabwe," she quipped.

Trained in nursing at Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital, when pioneering heart transplant surgeon Chris Barnaard and his brother Marius were becoming doctors, she and her husband had a straightforward life in Harare until the hyperinflation wiped out their pensions and savings.

"In February, after Zimbabwe went to US dollars, I got a bank statement and there was one dollar in it — not an American dollar, a Zimbabwe dollar."

As each elderly, penniless Briton leaves Zimbabwe, money raised by various charities will be freed for more than 1 500 destitute elderly Zimbabweans with no other citizenship, no family and no escape.

"I have done more good than wrong, I helped more people than helped me and I deserve a Christian burial. I don’t want to get ill in Zimbabwe," said Scotsman Fred Noble (78), a widower.

He returns to Fife, 51 years after he and his wife left for Rhodesia with £100. He worked for the railways, retiring on pension 13 years ago.

Noble’s investments disappeared overnight when the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe chopped 12 zeros off the currency as hyperinflation hit more than 230 million percent.

Overnight his quadrillions of Zimbabwean dollars were worth less than a penny.

"We didn’t do anything wrong — we paid taxes, invested for our old age. My pension and medical aid from the railways stopped five years ago."

The European Union, the United States and their allies imposed economic sanctions on Zimbabwe in response to the Government’s decision to repossess land from white commercial farmers for distribution to landless black Zimbabweans.

The sanctions have been condemned by progressive people the world over, though the EU and the US still refuse to scrap them. – Tribune-Herald Reporter.

Labels: GEORGE BUSH, SANCTIONS

posted by MrK @ 8:13 PM