"Zimbabwe’s economy is in the proverbial doldrums, some of it totally unrelated to sanctions, but caused by malfeasance and maladministration. For instance, Mugabe himself has railed against his own cabinet ministers over the corruption involving the land reform programme. Some of them have two, three or even four farms, when he has decreed that they should have only one. Moreover, others have not developed these previously white-owned properties to their previous level of productivity, using them for speculative purposes, instead.
In insisting that the sanctions have hurt most ordinary, average-income earners, the government had hoped to persuade voters not to continue with their support for the opposition. The idea has been to paint them with the same brush as the West, which the government alleges launched its anti-Zimbabwe campaign after the land reform programme.
All this has failed to impress most voters, because, for a majority of workers, the luxuries accorded to cabinet ministers and the heads of parastatal companies are so lavish, they cannot imagine the country suffering any real pain from the sanctions – unless there is a political reason for making the workers the main targets and sufferers.
And since the opposition draws most of its support from the workers, that conclusion is not difficult for them to arrive at. Tsvangirai once said he believed if the South Africans imposed any kind of sanctions on Zimbabwe, they would have such a devastating impact on the economy Mugabe would soon rush to Mbeki on bended knees to beg him to reverse the decision, in return for anything he wanted – including the immediate re-opening of direct talks with the opposition."
The issue of whether or not South Africa will cooperate fully with Sanctions is a tough one. When a similar situation developed in the 1960s and 1970s, South Africa paid lip service to international sanctions against Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front government, but provided a lifeline of fuel and other goods to the regime. In addition, the United States continued to buy chromium from Southern Rhodesia well into the 1970s. The same will likely occur with platinum mining today. It is one thing to freeze overseas assets and send the children of Zimbabwean military leaders away from universities in Australia. Quite another to stop mining platinum and denying the leadership large payouts from the mining concerns.
Saidi's article covers more topics than sanctions, and should be read in full.
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