yesterday signed the anti-sanctions petition in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Affirmative Action Group took the call against the economic measures to the US, one of the countries that have imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Over 500 Zimbabweans in the US are attending ZimExpo – a three-day extravaganza for Zimbabweans taking place in Cincinnati.

The pressure group, which is attending the expo told the Zimbabweans that their country’s economy was being hamstrung by the illegal economic measures introduced by the western countries including the US.
“I have signed this petition against the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe as the sanctions are not benefiting anyone and they are a hindrance to our economic recovery.

“I want them removed today because as far as I know, no one in the inclusive Government is supporting them,” said Ms Mabel Kashora, a marketing expert attending ZimExpo.
Her sentiments were echoed by contestants to the Miss Zimbabwe USA who all signed the petition.

In an unprecedented display of beauty with patriotism, all the contestants to the pageant appended their signatures to the anti-sanctions petition, joining President Mugabe and more than two million Zimbabweans who have already done so across the country.

“These sanctions should go because we want our country’s economy to recover. They are making ordinary people suffer and its not right,” said University Student and Miss Zimbabwe USA contestant.

“Although they say the sanctions are targeted, its very clear to us that they are affecting all our relatives back in Zimbabwe and we know for sure that those relatives are not in government or anywhere near President Mugabe’s family,” added another Miss Zimbabwe USA hopeful, identified as Simmo.
AAG president Mr Supa Mandiwanzira had told the gathering during a business networking conference during ZimExpo that sanctions were choking economic recovery efforts and were giving an unfair advantage to foreign direct investors who faced no real competition from locals in the purchase of Zimbabwean assets.

“I have had the privilege of attending many international business conferences and one thing that is very clear is that the world is focusing its investment attention on Zimbabwe. The main reason they highlight is that assets are cheap in Zimbabwe.

“Therefore if assets are very cheap in Zimbabwe, it follows that Zimbabweans can’t buy their cheap assets because they have no access to foreign lines of credit which have mostly been frozen because of the western sanctions against our country.

“Even under the current process of indigenisation and economic empowerment where the locals should be buying 51 percent shareholding in foreign owned firms, their capacity is hindered by these sanctions because they cannot borrow offshore.

“If they borrow in Zimbabwe the interest rates are punitive – over 25 percent in some cases – whereas the foreign investor borrows from their home country, some even at less than one percent to come and literary loot our business assets because they don’t have the burden of sanctions,” Mr Mandiwanzira told the business meeting.

Another AAG executive, treasurer general Mr Elifasi Mashaba, also told the same meeting that sanctions were not hurting the so-called targeted individuals but rather the majority of ordinary Zimbabweans.
“The whole rhetoric that these are targeted sanctions only meant to affect President Mugabe and his ministers is a tired propaganda line that every Zimbabwean back home has now been able to see.
“I don’t know anyone on that list of the so-called targeted individuals who is unable to board a plane and seek medical attention outside Zimbabwe. But your ordinary friends and relatives are the ones who are being affected because of these measures.

“They have no drugs in rural clinics simply because the support due to Zimbabwe’s health sector is being stifled as a result of the sanctions. These sanctions are evil comrades,” he said.
The US is ring leader among the countries that have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. The Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act penalises American companies that invest in Zimbabwe.

It also instructs US representatives to key financial institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank to vote against any loans or grants to Zimbabwe.
Speaking after signing the anti-sanctions petition, a Zimbabwean based in Louisvile Kentucky Mr John Chakauya, said the issue of sanctions against Zimbabwe was an emotional matter.

“I am not just ending with the signing of this petition, I am going to meet the Governor of Kentucky and my Congressman to tell them about these sanctions and ask them to have them removed,” he said.
Mrs Florence Tela, another Zimbabwean said it was clear to her that the sanctions were in response to Zimbabwe’s desire to re-distribute its wealth to its people.

“Every country in the world has a right to determine how it wants to handle its own resources and Zimbabwe is no different.
“The United States must allow Zimbabwe to make its own progress without external interference. If it’s democracy we are lacking, surely the American dream has taken more than 200 years to establish. We are only 31 years old as a country and I think we are being judged harshly,” she said.

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