HARARE – Vice President Constantino Chiwenga says Zimbabwe has lost US$150 billion potential economic gain through over 20 years of western imposed sanctions.
He was speaking at the Africa Unity Square in Harare Wednesday in front of a crowd comprising government officials, sympathisers and civil servants commandeered to boost numbers during the country’s anti-sanctions day.
“Since 2001, we estimate that Zimbabwe has lost or missed over 150 billion United States dollars through frozen assets, trade embargoes, export and investment restrictions, from potential bilateral donor support, development loans, IMF and World Bank balance of payment support and commercial loans.
“This has forced our Gross Domestic Product to contract drastically in the two decades that followed the imposition of sanctions.
“The restrictive measures are also a direct attack on Zimbabwe’s currency which is our sovereign currency of choice, hence our motherland remains subdued by, United States dollar,” Chiwenga said.
Sanctions were first imposed by the US under its Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) which ordered an asset freeze, trade and travel embargo on then President Robert Mugabe, allies in both government and armed forces as well as associated firms.
The European Union, led by former colonial master Britain also imposed its own measures in response to a combination of poll fraud, rights abuses and high-level corruption.
Zimbabwean authorities claim the sanctions were imposed as a form of punishment to Harare for leading violent seizures of white commercial farmland for redistribution to black citizens whose land was forcefully taken from their forefathers by white colonial settlers in the 19th century.
On Wednesday, civil servants, led by government permanent secretaries were roped in to march in Harare’s Central Business District, demanding an end to the sanctions.
Zimbabwe’s opposition has blamed government for using sanctions to try to escape blame for ruining the country’s economy.
Exiled opposition leader Saviour Kasukuwere’s spokesperson Jacqueline Sande felt the march against sanctions was futile for as long as Zimbabwe’s stubborn rulers failed to invent workable plans to reverse the country’s economic ruin.
“The anti-sanctions march is a non-event and at most an abuse of civil servants who should be in their offices serving the public,” she said.
“Whilst sanctions must be removed, they will certainly not be removed through pointless marches across the CBD, this is a sheer waste of public funds.
“Government should instead expend its energies towards introducing economic policies that work for ordinary Zimbabweans, building new schools, hospitals and other public facilities whilst renovating and re-equipping old ones,” she said.
