By Takunda Mandura
TRT Afrika, Harare
Southern African nation Zimbabwe has defied decades-long sanctions to post economic growth.
On Wednesday, the country's Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said that Zimbabwe had witnessed immense growth over the last five years, with the gross domestic product (GDP) doubling from $20 billion in 2018 to $40 billion in 2023.
Chiwenga spoke in the capital Harare during the Southern African Development Community Anti-Sanctions Day.
"Our growth potential is, however, greater than what we are managing now," Chiwenga said, terming the Western sanctions "degrading" and a hindrance to further growth.
The vice president said the sanctions were imposed by the European Union and the United States as punishment on Zimbabwe for "reclaiming land from colonial landlords and redistributing it to the landless majority."
'Vengeance'
"Zimbabwe refused to be part of Pax Britannica and the empire responded with vengeance," Chiwenga said.
Continental body, the African Union, and regional bloc SADC have repeatedly condemned the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
"AU demand for the immediate and unconditional lifting of sanctions imposed against institutions and individuals of the Republic of Zimbabwe, and in full support of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) position on the issue," AU chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement read out in Harare on Wednesday.
SADC, in a statement, said the sanctions "damage Zimbabwe's image and limits its potential for access to financial and capital markets."
The regional body added that it "strongly feels that the sanctions are an impediment that leaves one of our members behind from our common quest for regional integration, growth and prosperity."
Justification for sanctions
Russia and China are among the developed economies that have supported Zimbabwe. The two nations rejected calls to legitimise the Western sanctions through the United Nations Security Council.
Chiwenga said it is about time the sanctions were lifted.
"Our foreign policy is underpinned by the mantra: 'we are an enemy to none and friend to all', in which we seek win-win friendly collaborations with all countries in the world," he said.
The US, in its justification for the sanctions, says on the Department of State website: "The Zimbabwe sanctions program targets human rights abusers and those who undermine democratic processes or facilitate corruption."
The EU, on the other hand, says it first imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2002 due to "the escalation of violence and intimidation of political opponents and the harassment of the independent press."
