Tsvangirai must walk the sanctions talk

The Herald 08/03/2009

Editor — A decade ago, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in his capacity as leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, called for the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe as one of the methods he thought would assist him to occupy the highest office in the land.

Unfortunately, instead of catapulting him from being an opposition leader to being head of state, the embargo brought untold suffering to the ordinary people of Zimbabwe.

Upon realising that he used the wrong method for his ascendancy, Mr Tsvangirai has finally acknowledged that what he has been calling "restrictive measures" all along are actually sanctions.

The British came out openly saying they would be guided by Mr Tsvangirai on the removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe but Mr Tsvangirai appeared on national television saying that it is not what we say but what we do that is going to determine the removal of sanctions.

He went on to say that those who imposed sanctions have their own benchmarks they are going to use in order to remove the embargo.

What does he mean by this?

If Tsvangirai is genuine in his calling, he will go to the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union and tell those guys to let Zimbabwe off the sanctions hook, then we can start respecting him as our Prime Minister.

Sixpence Manyengavana, via e-mail.