FORMER MDC-Alliance spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu has apologized to Zimbabweans for taking part in lobbying for the imposition of economic sanctions on the country when he was still a “lost sheep” in opposition political trenches.

Mr Gutu, who has retired from politics, said in a statement on social media platform Twitter that he was ashamed of having been a supporter of the punitive economic sanctions imposed by Western nations as punishment for embarking on the revolutionary Land Reform Programme.

“I would like to sincerely apologise to all patriotic Zimbabweans for having played a part in calling for the imposition of unilateral and punitive sanctions against Zimbabwe by some powerful Western nations. I’m very sorry and ashamed of having let down my beloved country,” said Mr Gutu.

Mr Gutu said the endgame of the illegal economic sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom, the United States and allies at the turn of the millennium was “designed to engineer a socio-economic and political uprising against the Zanu PF-led Government and replace it with a puppet and pliant government that would not only reverse the land reform programme by giving back land to the white former commercial farmers but that will also, both directly and indirectly, take instructions from London and Washington DC in particular”.

“This was a grand plan that was oiled by big money. No less than US$10 million was channelled to MDC over the years in order to push this regime change agenda that, inter alia, also took the form of so-called targeted sanctions. These illegal sanctions are tantamount to a weapon of mass destruction ( WMD). They are anything but targeted. In reality, these demonic sanctions hit the ordinary people more than they hit the ruling elite in Zimbabwe. By closing all normal access to financial packages and loans from conventional sources such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, these illegal sanctions literally made Zimbabwe’s economy to scream for almost two decades.

“While other developing countries in Africa and elsewhere receive financial bailouts in the form of budgetary support and funding for infrastructural development, Zimbabwe has been losing out on this front.

Consequently, the cost of money in Zimbabwe has become unusually high compared to other Sub-Saharan African countries. Because money is expensive in Zimbabwe largely as a result of the direct effects of these illegal economic and financial sanctions, the knock-on effect on the cost of doing business has been nothing short of catastrophic,” said Mr Gutu.

For the past 20 years, Zimbabwe has been groaning under the weight of illegal economic sanctions that were imposed at the instigation of the MDC-A.

The sanctions were meant to generate discontent among the masses and rise against the Government.