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It-s the EU not the MDC, stupid!
David Mpiyezwe Nyathi
February 24, 2010

In a recent article posted on the chronicle, the self appointed policy analyst and well known academic and financial fraudster, Qhubani Moyo, alleges that there 'are sanctions- and scoffs the MDC for calling them restrictive measures. While it would be doing the academic world a disservice to call such statements by him intellectual dishonesty, I am sure it is some form of dishonesty if not ignorance. In fact, by any standards, his article lacks both academic eloquence and intellectual logic.

Maybe others are wondering why I call Qhubani an intellectual fraudster. He is the only guy I have met who completed in Four years a three year BA General degree focusing on Ndebele, Afrikaans and English. Despite having attained a Third class pass he corruptly managed to gain his admission to a Master of science in Tourism and Hospitality Management. Given the huge distance that existed between his qualifications and the entry requirements for the masters programme, it is clear that he paid a fortune for it. This was nothing to Qhubani since he had just defrauded Radio Dialogue of thousands of United States dollars resulting in him being sacked by that organisation. This explains why he stands as an advocate of the other criminals who have defrauded the state treasury. In a country with a rule of law, he should be rehabilitating in prison.

The issue of how he has robbed the donor community of thousands of dollars and used his CIO and ZANU PF connections to evade persecution will be left for another day.

Through his not so well thought out article, not that we expect much from him, he points out that the MDC must stop referring to restrictive measures by their name and start calling them Sanctions as his colleagues in ZANU PF would prefer them to be called. It is common knowledge that the EU document that acts as a birth certificate to these restrictive measures calls them restrictive measures and not sanctions. It does not matter whether your friends call you "Mabhensane" during your social outings but if your birth certificate does not formally recognise you as such then you shall be called Qhubani Moyo officially.

Surely it can only be the prayer of an ignoramus to hope to solve the issue of the restrictive measures outside their historical context. The article by the chronicle appointed and self certified policy analyst, Qhubani Moyo, is either an attempt at exposing absolute ignorance or just political imbecility. Thinking that shouting at the top of one-s voice will sweep away the existing conditions that necessitated the imposition of the restrictive measures is excessive parroting of the ZANU PF agenda.

The need for imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe was inspired by several factors. It is only a certain level of progress in dealing with these causal factors that will culminate in the relaxation or total removal of these restrictive measures. It is common knowledge that, since 1997 a combination of complex factors such as the large unbudgeted expenditures to war veterans (which resulted in that Black Friday in which the Zimbabwean dollar fell by 72% to the US$ to mark the beginning of a serious down turn in the economy), an unbudgeted for involvement in the DRC war in which it was estimated that the Zimbabwean government was using at least US$1 million dollars a day, differences over the handling of the land question, defaulting in debt servicing, disputed election results, deteriorating human rights record, and questions over the rule of law, constitutionalism, and mode of governance, provoked some sections of the international community to impose various restrictive measures against ZANU PF.

There is no record of trade sanctions on Zimbabwe anywhere. That is why you see that Australian companies continue to trade with Zimbabwe despite Australia-s position on Zimbabwe. For example, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry continued to import snow peas and cut flowers (mainly roses) from Zimbabwe. Cut-flower imports totalled $33, 000 in 2007-2008 while fresh vegetable imports totalled $20, 000-$25, 000. A spokeswoman for Australian Foreign Ministry, Stephen Smith said that 'imports from Zimbabwe are not covered- by the restrictive measures.

It is cheap ZANU PF politics to allege that the poor in Zimbabwe are in such a position because of these restrictive measures. The truth is that Zimbabwe under ZANU PF has suffered from crony-state capitalism - an economic system that is terribly hostile to the country-s poor and working people and that empowers and enriches political elites and their clients. Right through the days of ESAP, ZANU PF adopted what analysts have termed 'party-capitalism- that resented accumulation outside party networks and that authorised looting by political elites and their clients. ZANU PF elites have continued to pursue this zero sum extractive form of politics as is evidenced by their involvement in the Chiadzwa diamond fields while the nation remains bankrupt.

In a classical case of an idiot shooting himself on the foot and attempting to run, Qhubani Moyo admits that those conditions that caused the EU to impose restrictive measures are still in existence in Zimbabwe. In his article he states that, "Evidence on the ground points to little change in the political landscape... The same laws that existed before are still in place and the state security apparatus has not changed its attitude towards Tsvangirai..." In a clear case of showing his inability to apply his mind logically to anything, he then accuses the MDC of failing to cause the removal of Sanctions. Is Qhubani Moyo insane or what?.

I think many like me who were wondering why he is so much in defence of ZANU PF must now understand that it is payback time. They defended him against prosecution and he must now pay them back by publishing such embarrassing articles in the state run chronicle newspaper.

The only precondition for the removal of Sanctions is implementation of the GPA regarding human rights, security, economic policy, and a return to rule of law in all aspects of national governance. The full implementation of the GPA is the most important aspect in this endeavour towards ending Zimbabwe-s decade long international isolation.

*David Mpiyezwe Nyathi is a Zimbabwean Law student at the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg South Africa and can be contacted on davidmpiyezwe@gmail.com.

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