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Herald Reporters

The Zanu PF Youth League has expressed its sadness at the callous and inhumane manner with which the illegal sanctions were foisted upon Zimbabwe adding that one of the so-called direct “targets” was an innocent child aged nine years in 2001.

In a statement, Zanu PF Acting Deputy Secretary for Youth Affairs Cde Tendai Chirau said as young people, they cannot continue to bear the brunt of the sanctions, due to challenges in failing to freely transact online, since Zimbabwe is classified as a “risky and dangerous” business destination.

“Our future is being destroyed. While we now know the sanctions were instigated to assert a certain political point or position, what they have only achieved since their inception in 2001 is the continued suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans.

“For this reason, Zanu PF Youth League hereby calls, without any equivocation, for their immediate and unconditional removal, as a matter of urgency,” he said.

Cde Chirau said as progressive Zimbabwean youths, they are well alive to their origins as an expression of neo-colonialism and an imperialist weapon designed to punish Zimbabwe for the fast-track land reform programme.

“That the grand plan was to effect regime change through economic destabilisation and civil despondency as a pre-emptive measure to curtail the contagious effect of the land reform drive within the region and beyond.

“With even more emphasis, we now call for those who called for the sanctions, their supposed beneficiaries, and all willing tools of the imperialists who today continue to celebrate the sanctions, to be held to account for their heinous, unpatriotic acts. Enough is enough!” he said.

Meanwhile, the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) World Wide president Mike Chimombe said while the western-imposed illegal sanctions are said to be targeted, as AAG they have seen firsthand that the sanctions are adversely affecting the majority of their members.

Mr Chimombe said the illegal sanctions have to be removed without any conditions because their members have been suffering over the years.

“We want to state categorically that sanctions by their nature are blunt instruments that often produce unintended and undesirable consequences.

“To start with, the imposition of the illegal sanctions badly affected the country profile and as a result, most companies from Zimbabwe are viewed as high risk. This means the international community is afraid to lend any support to indigenous companies from Zimbabwe,” he said.

Mr Chimombe said the sanctions have adversely affected indigenous businesspeople in the sense that local banks that support them were put on sanctions.

“The local businesspeople are suffering as they cannot access support from local financial institutions. This has left many indigenous companies in limbo as they can’t access funds to capitalise their businesses.

“To make matters worse, some of the local and international financial institutions have been slapped with fines by some of the countries that imposed the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe for trying to help Zimbabwean companies,” he said.

Mr Chimombe said it has also been a nightmare for indigenous companies to effect payments through the international payment system as the payments are either intercepted or blocked.

“Due to these negative factors, access to credit markets have been blocked and indigenous companies have to live from hand-to-mouth with no external credit lines.

“The lack of offshore lending has crippled the operations of many indigenous companies. In addition, Zimbabwean importers are asked to pay cash upfront thereby squeezing their foreign currency reserves.”