The Sunday Mail
Bright Matonga
Last week the US Senate Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on Africa and Global Health Policy deliberated on Zimbabwe’s post-election environment within the context of a possible review of economic sanctions on the country. Former Deputy Information and Publicity Minister Bright Matonga has been sanctioned by the US. Here he gives a personal account of how the sanctions have affected him.
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I was placed on sanctions around 2006; I was the Deputy Information Minister then and a Government spokesperson.
Like most ministers, up to the President, I was put on the sanctions list.
What this meant was that I could not get a visa to travel to the UK. I have a family there and I grew up and did my education there. I also could not get a visa to go to the United States, not that I had any desire to go there.
So it affected the travelling side of things.
It affected the transaction side of things, any transaction in pounds or United States dollars that involved my name could not go through; the money was intercepted.
Assuming someone wanted to send me money or any of the colleagues on the list through Western Union or World Remit, the transaction was flagged.
Once they type in my name, they are immediately asked to punch in my ID number. The US officials have all my personal information including my national ID number and passport number.
So, once they ascertain that the money is being sent to me they intercept it and hold on to it.
They allow the transaction to go through then they hold on to the money.
So this is one of the challenges facing those on the sanctions list including companies, we cannot transact outside the country.
I have children born in the United Kingdom, and it is also difficult for them.
They ended up having to write to British authorities to ensure that they are not affected by the sanctions. But they still face delays when they transact.
In addition, banks were instructed to withdraw all my Visa cards.
My son is British-born and went to high school there, I could not send him pocket money and could not even pay for his fees using my name.
I had to find assistance from third parties who had funds in the UK to pay the fees and then repay them locally.
I remember when my mother passed on and my brother who stays in Australia sent money to assist with the funeral, that money was intercepted after it was sent in my name.
They took all the money which was meant to assist with our mother’s funeral. If I go into South Africa and do not have cash, it takes me more than two hours to buy one bottle of drinking water.
Now, because I do not have a Visa card I have to carry cash with me and you know how dangerous it is to move around with cash in South Africa.
At times I had to go with my wife but they have also taken away her Visa card.
Some will say these are targeted sanctions, but evidence abounds that they are affecting the whole country.
Strive Masiiwa at one point came out saying how sanctions had affected Econet and he called for their immediate removal.
When you are under sanctions, you cannot get businesspeople to bring in money into the country. They have to get approval from the US Treasury, otherwise the money will be intercepted and the financiers will face heavy penalties.
The little money that is coming in is not coming through straight channels, they have to go through back channels.
People will always find ways of sanctions-busting, but that is not the way to do business.
The world has endorsed the New Dispensation, and on that basis alone Zimbabwe should be given support through the removal of sanctions.
I know some of my colleagues who were removed from the list.
One would ask me why don’t you go there and ask to be removed, but on a point of principle I am saying I am doing this for my country.
It would be selfish of me to go and negotiate. I know some went and negotiated and were removed and can travel freely, but from a point of principle this is about my country.
I was once offered a job which l turned down because it had conditions attached for them to get me off sanctions list and l turned it down!
The other l was offered but couldn’t take because l knew l would not open an account or travel to the EU or US because of sanctions.
Yes I am not in Government but the whole country is being affected by the sanctions. So we are in it together.
There is a gentleman who shares the surname Matonga, but we are not related at all. His son wanted to go to the United States but because he had the surname Matonga, they had problems.
He was asked point blank if he was related to me. When he said he was not he was asked to bring evidence to that effect.
So, I had to write an affidavit stating that I am from Mhondoro and this other Matonga is from Murehwa and we are not in any way related; more or less in the same manner many people who have the surname “Smith” in America are not related.
So for anyone with a Matonga name intending to travel to the US, I have to write an affidavit for them disowning them.
US demands
The United States government continues to insist that Government must entrench democracy.
But that is exactly what President Mnangagwa’s Government has been doing since coming into power — the political space has not been this open since Independence.
We have never seen anything like what we are witnessing today. But this is a process and you cannot expect it to be done overnight.
They insist that the Government must repeal Aippa.
In my opinion there is nothing inherently wrong with the law. In fact it entrenches the rights of journalists to demand information from Government. What they should be calling for is for the law to be implemented fairly.
They also insist that Posa should be repealed.
But just look at the national security laws they have in the UK and the US. Look at the Patriot Act in the US and the Official Secrets Act in the UK, which were tightened owing to the fight against terrorism.
You will realise that Posa is child’s play. They talk about the August 1 incident. The President appointed a commission to look into that and that is very positive.
They also talk of the alignment of laws to the Constitution, but this process is nearly complete.
Bright Matonga was speaking to the The Sunday Mail Senior Reporter Lincoln Towindo
