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Tinomudaishe Chinyoka Correspondent
Sometimes, perhaps due to the euphoria that comes from social media, it is easy for people to panic when they should not.

Social media fake news and hyperbole can magnify minutiae and create storms in a teacup.

The recent renewal by Donald Trump of Executive Order 13288 is not, as the Daily News and others claimed, America “cranking up heat” against President Mnangagwa.

Instead, it is a routine application of American law.

The executive order has a lifespan of one year, it was expiring, and like every year since it was penned, was renewed.

Nothing that was the case on the day before the renewal changed after the renewal.

Let me explain.

Executive Order 13288 was first issued by President George W Bush.

George W Bush

At the time, he was busy putting up his so-called coalition of the willing to invade Iraq.

This was after that lie about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, but that’s another story.

As history shows, there was no better supporter of President Bush than Tony Blair.

Tony Blair

As President Mbeki has written in his recollections of his time in office, Tony Blair was intent on regime change in Zimbabwe at the time.

It seems logical that perhaps as a thank you gesture to Tony Blair for his support of the USA regime change efforts in Iraq, President Bush decided to support Blair in his regime change ideas for Zimbabwe to our detriment.

That is why the verbiage around the renewal of the executive order refers to US foreign policy.

Put differently, Executive Order 13288 is an expression of US foreign policy, and it is significant that it says so in terms.

Like all matters of a diplomatic nature, they are best addressed through diplomatic channels.

The fact that our Government has taken proactive action to engage with the current administration in Washington DC shows that Zimbabwe is alive to the fact that it is important to remind them that things have changed in Zimbabwe.

What is sad is when people within the opposition act like Executive Order 13288 is about sanctioning Zanu-PF. It is not.

When Tendai Biti says “Zanu-PF will not get a cent”, he is being disingenuous.

It is the ordinary person that suffers from a continuation of these sanctions.

It is the ordinary person that is treated as a pawn when members of the opposition use the permissive environment prevailing since the new dispensation to create chaos and mayhem in an effort to reverse the results of a legitimate election.

Tendai Biti

It is the ordinary person that suffers when the opposition dances on the graves of victims of natural disasters and links them to the elections, celebrating the fact that because of sanctions, we are unable to easily access funds to prevent and mitigate against such disasters.

When they set preconditions for the removal of sanctions, the MDC accepts that their continued existence is meant to assist their regime change agenda.

The fact that our Government is working to have them removed puts them in panic mode.

And, with Jeff Flake no longer in the Senate and Corey Booker flailing in the Democratic primaries for president, the MDC senses that the tide might be turning.

That, more than anything, explains the almost frenzied ululating when Executive Order 13288 was extended for another year.

At no point did anyone on their side say the obvious: it was nothing new.

There were no new sanctions.

Yes, the renewal of Executive Order 13288 was unfortunate, but it’s obvious that the Government is following the age-old advice of our forefathers not to look back.

Instead of going into a social media-generated panic, the Government is taking proactive steps to address the issue at source, while continuing to push its agenda to transform the socio-political and economic trajectory of the country.

I have said this many times, but it bears repeating: the election in 2023 will not require campaigning on the part of the Government.

Instead, with the pace at which things are getting better, by then it will be obvious to the electorate that they made the right choice on July 30, 2018.

Zanu-PF will win on delivery, while the Complaining Corner will lament why they supported ruinous sanctions against their own people.

Perhaps that explains why a certain pastor with no congregation cannot wait to become president and keeps sniping at our Government to try and sabotage progress.

Pity, we have sussed him out. We know his game. That the people of Zimbabwe will emerge  victorious in the fight against these illegal sanctions is not a question of “if”, but “when”.

There are those who will be caught on the wrong side of history when that happens.

Their reward will be life in perpetual opposition.

Because, as our resilience in the face of these sanctions shows, we are made of very stern stuff on this plateau.

We shall conquer without a doubt.