The US government has observed a deterioration of the state of Affairs in Zimbabwe since the demise of former president Robert Mugabe in 2017.
The Trump administration attributes the deterioration to Zimbabwe authorities’ prioritisation of power preservation at the expense of democracy.
Assessing the Zimbabwe situation as the Mnangagwa led regime reaches one year since the election which ushered them into office, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Risch said:
As Zimbabweans mark this sombre anniversary, we are reminded of all that can go wrong when regime preservation comes ahead of real democratic change.
Zimbabwe is facing a worse political and economic crisis today than in 2017 when long-time ruler … Mugabe was forced from power by the country’s military.
Today, citizens are suffering under staggering inflation, regular fuel and water shortages, rolling blackouts, a failing currency, and an increasingly repressive political environment.
President Mnangagwa’s efforts to cleanse his government’s image abroad and to convince the Zimbabwean people that their economic woes are the fault of very targeted US sanctions are the wrong priorities.
Risch argued that sanctions are on individuals who violated the rule of law and caused political and economic chaos. He said that Mnangagwa should be prioritising on delivering the “long-promised” reforms. These include political reforms as recommended by the Kgalema Motlanthe led commission which investigated the August 1 shootings.
This comes at a time when the government is pushing its diplomatic offensive to reengage the international community. Purported reforms were meant to sell a new Zimbabwe to the international community.
More: Daily News
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