Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa has opposed the United States and European Union on the reasons why Zimbabwe was put on the targeted sanctions lists.
Mnangagwa said the sanctions imposed on some ZANU PF leaders and companies linked to human rights violations in the country were because of the land redistribution exercise carried out by his predecessor Robert Mugabe and never about the human rights issues.
He made the remarks during a panel discussion on the revitalisation of Zimbabwe’s economy during the 5th Global Business Forum on Africa that opened here yesterday.
The discussion was moderated by Mr Sangu Delle, chairman of Golden Palm Investments in Ghana.
Said Mnangagwa: “Now we are saying yes, we can continue speaking against sanctions but we want to say to the international community, we have not offended you, embrace us back, we embrace you also.
“That way we have opened up. We are saying now under the new dispensation, we want to engage and re-engage. Engage with those countries and nations and international organisations who have not engaged us before, re-engage with those countries and nations who would have disengaged with us.
“We have no plans of interfering in any other country’s affairs. We want to remain Zimbabweans working for our own destiny as Zimbabweans. That is what we as Zimbabweans desire and we expect that the rest of the international community should respect us as we respect them.”
Mnangagwa called for mutual respect between countries.
Zimbabwe, he said, took up arms against white rule because of unfair land distribution and it was inevitable that citizens would reclaim their land after the liberation war.
The President said the land reform was now a closed chapter and the world should now chart a new path with Harare.
“The major grievance for that armed struggle was land and it was necessary to get our land back. When we introduced our land reform programme in the year 2000, we offended those who had taken land from us and they control all the global media and as a result, sanctions were imposed on us and the global media supported them.
“When sanctions were imposed on us, our economy collapsed. Our currency collapsed totally. Up to now we do not have any support from financial international institutions like the World Bank (WB) or the International Monetary Fund, (IMF)” said President Mnangagwa.
Major international financial institutions have not extended lines of credit to Harare for the past 20 years, leaving the country to largely survive on its own resources.
“We are saying the land reform is behind us and is irreversible so we now want to engage with the rest of the international community. We want to be embraced.”
Source: State Media