MDC Alliance Vice President, Welshman Ncube says he is glad that the SADC has finally acknowledged the real reasons for western economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by recognising that the crisis in Zimbabwe is multi-faceted.
This came following the speech by Malawian President, Lazarus Chakwera who is also SADC Chairman in which he recognised that the international isolation of Zimbabwe is a result of bilateral and multilateral disputes that Zimbabwe has with the international community.
“All along SADC has supported Zimbabwe for the lifting of sanctions, but it has always been reluctant to accept the core deficit which has resulted in the international isolation,
“It is imperative that we cannot go talking with the Americans, the British and the European Union when we have not talked with ourselves.
“That reform agenda needs to be national, needs to be locally grounded and needs to be agreed to by the stakeholders in Zimbabwe. It cannot be a reform agenda unilaterally adopted or fronted by Zanu PF.” Ncube told a news conference in Harare yesterday.
He said the MDC Alliance welcome all the remarks by the SADC Chairman concerning Zimbabwe’s economic sanctions.
“We welcome this recognition that there is need for reform in Zimbabwe. Issues around rule of law, deficit on democracy, the deficit on good governance, and the violations of human rights are all captured for the first time in that SADC statement and we welcome them.” He said.
The Zanu PF government held choreographed events across the country on Monday, with supporters denouncing “sanctions” which they claimed were the cause of Zimbabwe’s economic crisis. The United States and the European Union said there were no trade sanctions on Zimbabwe, but personal sanctions on listed individuals and the state arms company.
Zanu PF youths tried to disrupt the MDC Alliance press conference held at the law firm of MDC vice president Tendai Biti and the police had to intervene before it commenced.