The Sunday Mail
Shannon Smith
Kuda Bwititi and Itai Mazire
The visit to Zimbabwe by two American government officials last week is part of a flurry of such deputations to the country over the past few months as the Obama administration ups its spy missions ahead of a review of Washington’s sanctions on Harare.
It has also emerged that in the latest visit, the delegation made arrangements to meet political opposition and civic organisation officials, but did not include Government or Zanu-PF representatives.
The team only made last minute moves for an audience with Government and ruling party officials when it became apparent that not doing so exposed their agenda.
Those 11th hour overtures were snubbed.
Before that, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa Dr Shannon Smith led a “fact-finding mission” to Zimbabwe, after which several activists and white ex-commercial farmers led by Mr Ben Freeth were sponsored to go to Washington to make a slew of spurious allegations against President Mugabe and Zanu PF before American lawmakers as part of the sanctions review.
In recent months, other American government officials have been in and out of the country claiming to be interested in normalising relations while actually generating reports that further entrench hostility.
Information gathered by The Sunday Mail shows that the two US officials – Gregory Simpkins and Piero Tozzi – who were in the country last week are among drafters reviewing the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera), the sanctions law imposed in 2001 as part of a bid to oust President Mugabe’s administration.
The two arrived in Zimbabwe on June 28 and before they departed two days later, they told journalists they had come to do “investigatory work” and Zidera would be amended soon.
Simpkins is staff director of the US committee on Africa, health, human rights and international relations; while Tozzi works for the sub-committee on Africa, health, human rights and international relations.
Simpkins, a former journalist, is involved in foreign advocacy and advises the American government on policy, and Tozzi’s expertise are in crafting international and constitutional law.
During their stay in Harare, Simpkins and Tozzi met officials from civic society and opposition political parties.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu told The Sunday Mail that the delegation met its leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
“Of course I am not at liberty to talk about what they discussed, but all I can say is that meetings were held,” he said.
A top Government official who asked not to be named said it was odd that Simpkins and Tozzi wanted to craft policy on Harare without talking to State officials here, adding that the last minute offer of a meeting was “derisory”.
“We were surprised that they hastily made an effort to come and have meetings with us. So we told them that it was not possible to have such meetings at short notice.
‘‘One gets the feeling that they never intended to meet Government officials at all, but only approached us to make it appear that they were keen to see us.”
US embassy official Karren Kelley added: “They did not have any meetings with Government officials. We wanted to meet government but we failed to do so. But there were a number of meetings with civic society and other organisations.”
An official statement on the US Harare Embassy website had said “the two officials will meet representatives of Government, business and civil society organisations to hear first-hand accounts about the situation in Zimbabwe in relation to human rights, democracy and governance”.
But the delegation did not meet the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, and ZHRC executive secretary Jester Chawera said they were not even aware of the visit.
“The only meeting I am aware of concerning the United States is the invitation we were given by their embassy to attend their (independence) celebrations, which were held on Thursday,” she said.
Mr Simpkins told journalists the US would not let Zimbabwe go “off the table”.
“So Zimbabwe hasn’t been at the top of the list for a long time. It doesn’t mean it’s forgotten, it just means there are so many immediate crises that we have to deal with. But again those of us who have worked on Zimbabwe’s issue for a long time never want to see it completely off the table.
“So we are trying to move it back into the light of examination to see what we should do and what can we do.
‘‘We will let you know as soon as we have more discussions on it.”
Indications are that the renewed onslaught on Zimbabwe is premised on using opposition elements to stir civil unrest, frustrating access to FDI and discrediting the local diamond mining sector.
