Comprehension, a lost art.
Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa
Comprehension is the act of grasping the intellect or the ability to understand the meaning or importance of something or the knowledge acquired as a result or understanding.
It takes a special kind of stupidity for one to fail to comprehend, run with their failure to grasp, and then go to town about it to the extent of creating false narratives to dismiss sanctions on Zimbabwe.
How they can do that is beyond comprehension but perhaps to quote Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John P. Mangudya, the man whose communication was misconstrued, “… the peddlers of this narrative have a sinister agenda with nefarious objectives of tarnishing both the Bank and the Republic of Zimbabwe.”
The RBZ Governor had to issue a statement following the false and malicious reports carried in the trailer of an ill-fated documentary by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television network accusing the Central Bank of engaging in illicit gold dealings, corruption, and money laundering.
Said Mangudya, “It is particularly strange that the reports claim that “through the Bank, Government is using illicit ways as a scheme to bust international sanctions placed on political leaders and government entities”. The Bank is not a sanctioned entity, and the cited individuals are not sanctioned persons either.”
He added that there are no sanctions on Zimbabwean exports and imports, including trade in gold, to warrant Zimbabwe to “circumvent international sanctions” through illicit trade in gold. As such, the claim that there is “a scheme to bust international sanctions using illicit ways” shows beyond doubt that the peddlers of this narrative have a sinister agenda with nefarious objectives of tarnishing both the Bank and the Republic of Zimbabwe.
Did the Apex Banker claim there are no sanctions on Zimbabwe? Certainly not! He stated that there are no international sanctions on Zimbabwe as it is fact! Zimbabwe is under a coercive regime of sanctions from The United States of America crafted under ZDERA and amplified in OFAC and AGOA. The sanctions are an immoral USA foreign tool that indiscriminately and unjustly target all citizens including the poor. They are not international but unilateral and that is the first thing the RBZ Chief addresses.
While there is no international trade embargo against Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Democracy Recovery Act (ZIDERA) restrict trade with Zimbabwe and make the country a high risk trading destination. The illegal USA economic sanctions on Zimbabwe restrict trade which the USA and its allies namely UK, Canada and Australia purport to promote through the World Trade Organisation.
The cost to the economy caused by the unilateral & illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe is estimated at around USD100billion. Cost of borrowing is over 1000 percent higher than the average in most African countries. Zimbabwe had a reported US$34 billion funding gap in infrastructure financing in 2017. The inability to generate additional revenue and the country’s poor economic performance has limited the Government’s ability to provide basic social services.
Excerpts from the October 2021 Special Rapporteur report:
“In terms of access to credit, the price of loans for Zimbabwe is reportedly 7 percent due to risk perceptions and over-compliance; the average is 0,5 percent in other countries. Most commercial loans are for less than 10 years. The IMF classifies Zimbabwe ‘in debt distress’ with large and longstanding arrears to international financial institutions and commercial creditors.”
“Zimbabwe was thus abandoned to its own mercy, unable to access international aid and financing for many years, and it was expelled from the global financial markets,” reads part of report by Professor Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur after her 10 day mission in Zimbabwe during her October 2021 visit.
It is therefore surprising to see and hear the shrill and extreme propaganda from the opposition claiming that RBZ’s clarification on international sanctions being absent is an indication that they don’t exist. It also shows the extreme not only snobbishness but extreme inferiority complex to assume that the USA represents international community.
It is not surprising that the people singing the loudest on the absence of USA sanctions are the same people who belong to clueless, structure-less and policy-less party! They are somehow banking on the unscreened Al Jazeera document to propel them into state power!
To a group of people who fail to craft policy papers, a constitution and have a structure comprehending statecraft and communication is obviously beyond their ken. In fact the nation is expecting too much from a grossly incompetent group of people who are supposed to be masters of comprehension, being lawyers and all. But sadly, they continue to be a disappointment at every and turn.
Such crass ignorance must never be rewarded. Zimbabwe needs new opposition parties!
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