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(NEWZIMBABWE) MDC-T calls for sanctions removal

MDC-T calls for sanctions removal
by
23/12/2009 00:00:00

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) party has stepped up calls for the lifting of international sanctions on up to 40 Zimbabwean companies, but stopped short of asking for the removal of a travel ban on allies of President Robert Mugabe.

The party has previously resisted demands by Mugabe's Zanu PF party to speak out against the western sanctions. Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government with Mugabe in February, has gone only as far as calling the sanctions "restrictive measures".

But after the powerful Finance Minister Tendai Biti, also the secretary general of the MDC-T, said the sanctions were "unhelpful" on a visit to England last week, a more direct call for their removal has come from the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Gorden Moyo.

The volte-face comes as parties in the unity government reached agreement early in the week on the composition of statutory bodies to oversee the media, human rights and elections.

Moyo told a meeting of the Bulawayo Agenda that the MDC-T is now actively lobbying for the removal of some 40 companies from the list of individuals and organisations slapped with sanctions by Western countries -- led by Britain and the United States.

Moyo, who has previously denied Zimbabwe is under sanctions, said: "We are engaging the European Union as the government of Zimbabwe. Our engagements are in many facets, including that of the lifting of sanctions imposed on about 40 companies prior to the establishment of this (inclusive) government."
“All we are saying is that while we appreciate that these companies played a bigger role in sustaining Mugabe's government, there is need now to review the situation and see what can be done to help save these companies from imminent collapse."

Companies targeted under the sanctions include parastatals such as the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) and financial institutions such as the Zimbabwe Financial Holdings.

The United States government also stated in the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 that it would use its more than considerable influence in multi-lateral institutions such as the IMF and World Bank to stop the provision of assistance to Zimbabwe while US companies were barred from any commercial relations with the country.

The sanctions are one of the major sticking points holding back full in implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) with President Mugabe and his Zanu PF party refusing to make concessions to the MDC formations until the restrictions are removed.

Zanu PF, which claims the sanctions were as an act of retribution by western countries over the land reform programme, accuses the MDC formations of campaigning for their imposition and says the opposition parties should now call for their removal.

For its part the MDC-T denies the allegations but appears to be in two minds over how to proceed over the issue.

On the one hand the party wants the sanctions to remain in place as a bargaining tool and some kind of insurance policy in the ongoing talks with Zanu PF while at the same time senior figures like Secretary General and Finance Minister, Tendai Biti are frustrated by their adverse impact on efforts to revive the economy.

Meanwhile Moyo’s announcement that MDC-T is now calling for partial lifting of some of the sanctions, particularly those targeting state-owned companies, is unlikely to cheer its Zanu PF rivals who want to whole raft of measures including those against senior party figures removed.

Zanu PF’s national congress which was held early in the month ordered its negotiators not to move an inch in the ongoing talks with the MDC formations over full implementation of the GPA until the sanctions were removed.

Labels: GORDEN MOYO, MDC, SANCTIONS, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 8:27 PM