Sanctions against Zimbabwe need closer scrutiny
There has been some raucous over Arthur Mutambara's article in a national newspaper. My understanding is that Mutambara wrote as a columnist and in his personal capacity as a reader and commentator.
And the main spike is not whether his views are acceptable criticism or not but the fact that he speaks as a Zimbabwean. What is very concerning is that there is a union made between Zimbabwe's economic woes and the immigration with the conclusion that Zimababewans are solely responsible.
This is very concerning because there is a clear disregard for the role of sanctions by the West on our neighbours. These sanctions were clearly aimed at turning the people against its government and turning SADC against Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF, so that the status quo should continue until the ones that matter have decided otherwise.
This was a clear message that we are still your masters though you claim to be free. If anyone thinks that sanctions are useless then the US and EU would not resort to them against Russia.
And if we joke about the poverty experienced by our fellow black people in Zimbabwe as something which Zimbabweans are responsible for, and which they alone should deal with, then we are more delusional than Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland stories. It is important to note that the sanctions in Zimbabwe began after their land reform projects.
The sanctions could not be for human rights concerns because there are many countries in Africa and the world which commit atrocities against their citizens and are trading freely with the West.
These sanctions were not only meant for Zimbabwe, they were meant as a warning to SA that if you dare touch the assets of the prosperous beneficiaries of apartheid and colonialism without compensating them, you too will starve to instability.
No one can be certain for sure, including the UK, about who has the power to punish the US if, and as the US has, crossed the line.
Although I do not support seizure of people's properties without compensation, and threatening our white people as if they are still settlers, I disagree fully with those who say SA should have intervened more decisively in the Zimbabwean election disputes.
The truth of the matter is that the Robert Mugabe regime prepared its citizens as much as possible, for a complete takeover of the economy through a comparatively high-level education but was failed by Africa and SADC.
Khotso KD Moleko, Mangaung