HON. ZHEMU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to the removal of sanctions. I want to tell it as it is, Mr. Speaker Sir. Who brought the sanctions Mr. Speaker Sir? We have people right here seated with us, Hon. Members who went begging for sanctions. They are not even listening to the whistle that is being given in this House.

Mr. Speaker Sir, let me educate them on the need to have the sanctions removed – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –. We have very educated people here, including those on my right but they use their education against their own country, against their own people. People are dying, people are suffering because of people who went to beg for sanctions to be imposed illegally on Zimbabwe.

Mr. Speaker Sir, re-engagement is about opening up the doors that were closed by those who went to beg for sanctions. We cannot stand and fold our arms when our people are suffering because of the ills of some of us right here in this House. Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to open up everyone’s mind here about the importance of reengagement. Reengagement is seeking to open the closed doors of negotiations of being able to export our products.

Honourable Speaker Sir, give us a chance, Hon. Mliswa can you give me a chance to debate quietly please. Thank you – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – SADC has come up with a plan, with 25th of October being a day that we need to tell the world that it is unfair for the sanctions to be imposed on Zimbabwe. They are illegal in that they were not sanctioned by the United Nations. They were sanctioned by the big powers. They are illegal sanctions so they have to be removed.

I need to remind people here that sanctions are actually a special warfare. It is a war that is being waged against Zimbabwe – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – I support the notion that those who went begging for sanctions are terrorists. They must be treated as such, because it is causing a lot of suffering to our people. Sanctions are used to further the agenda of regime change. The Americans are using it to try and change the regime in Zimbabwe which is a regime change agenda. They are fighting a war against the innocent people to say that sanctions are targeted is to be blinkered. You are looking in one direction, not in the other direction. We want to remove the blinkers from those people today. Sanctions are not targeted. They are affecting the general people in the rural areas. We will not allow people to have these blinkers forever. That is why SADC saw it fit to declare 25th October as an anti-sanctions day against Zimbabwe. So those of us who went begging for sanctions must go back and beg for them to be removed – [Hear, hear] –

When national duty calls we must all raise our reasoning above party politics. Sanctions are a party politics gimmick. We must all raise our reasoning above party politics so that we put the nation first. The nation of Zimbabwe comes first, individuals like some of those who went to beg for sanctions do not come first. Zimbabwe comes first.

As I said in my opening speech of the First Session of the Ninth Parliament, sanctions are an evil, they are a devil. They are a demon that has to be exorcised. Sanctions are catastrophic. Our people are suffering. Go to the hospitals, there are no medicines because of the imposition of illegal sanctions against the people. You celebrate that even if you aspire to be the ruling party to come into party, are you going to rule graves when all people are dead because of sanctions? – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

No sane person can ever go and beg, kneel on your knees for sanctions to be imposed on your country, on your own people. That is murderous. It is terrorism in one form or the other. Sanctions hurt the ordinary people. Mr. Speaker Sir, there is no corruption which is more than going to beg for sanctions for your people. Begging for sanctions is the mother of all corruption that you can ever think of – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to go sector by sector,dissect and try to open the people’s eyes on what sanctions have done to the sectors in Zimbabwe. I will start with the health sector. The manufacturing companies that manufacture drugs are closed. They are not able to import drugs into the country. They cannot import the raw materials. People are suffering. There are no medicines because of sanctions that some of us went to beg for – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Importation of the necessary drugs, HIV for example, the Anti Retroviral drugs are hampered because some of us here look at us with the corner of their eyes and smile yet people are dying.

Let us look at industry and commerce. Foreign direct investment is hampered to come into the country. That is why we have companies not coming to invest because the funds are blocked out there. Banks that try to assist companies to bring cash into Zimbabwe are being fined. We have heard CBZ has been fined quite a lot of money –$3.8 billion, Standard Chartered Bank was fined US$18 million for having assisted companies to bring money into Zimbabwe and people smile about that. Open your eyes, open up your mind. People think properly, see the truth – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

Our exports for example, let us look at what has happened to the diamonds in Chiyadzwa. They have been closed out of the market because they are alleging – false allegations that there are children working in Chiyadzwa. How can we have children work in Chiadzwa yet we have a lot of adults who are not employed, we can never have that, it is not true, it is a bad gimmick. Let us look at mining, we need to retool the mining sector, we need to open up the closed mines, we need to get the latest technology to mine our diamonds and gold. We have people who do not see this, people who beg for sanctions to be imposed on an innocent nation. Look at the countries that have imposed sanctions on us, they are the big foreign powers who have imposed sanctions; they want a regime change agenda which is not achievable. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for having given me this chance.

HON. BITI: Thank you Hon. Speaker for recognizing me so that I can also add a voice to this critical debate. Hon. Speaker Sir, the issue of sanctions – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – the issue of sanctions is a key debate in our country but the starting point …

HON. T. MOYO: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. M. KHUMALO): What is your point of order?

HON. T. MOYO: My point of order is that the Hon. Member should excuse himself because he is an interested party – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Members.

Some Hon. Members stood up and started making inaudible interjections. Hon. Members on both sides started singing and making inaudible interjections.

Hon. Members having continued behaving in a disorderly manner, THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. M. KHUMALO) adjourned the House at Five o’clock p.m without putting any question in terms of Standing Order Number 113 until Tuesday, 12th November, 2019.