Like Job, our wealth is being restored

As the diplomatic lobby to have sanctions imposed by the United States continues to snowball, and as African countries continue to find their voice in calling out Washington and its allies over the egregious coercive measures against a tiny country in this remote part of the world, the sanctioners are increasingly being put in an embarrassing and tight spot.

Having five Heads of State and Government — Presidents Macky Sall (Senegal), Felix Tshisekedi (DRC), Mokgweetsi Masisi (Botswana), Hage Geingob (Namibia) and William Ruto (Kenya) — from across the continent using the lofty platform provided by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to unequivocally call for sanctions to be scrapped takes incredible and considerable diplomatic heft.

There will come a time — sooner or later — when the US will eventually find it unfashionable, unsustainable and unrealistic to keep them in place. But it would be fanciful to think that such a momentous development would happen soon, especially before next year’s harmonised elections.

You see, it is not a secret that sanctions were specifically designed to make ZANU PF lose power and replace it with a pliant regime that would mind the West’s interests.

This has failed thus far.

However, the sanctioners would be hoping against hope that this time — maybe this time — ZANU PF will lose the elections.

In all fairness, they have been doing more than hope for a favourable election outcome; in fact, they have been investing money and effort to make this possible.

You might have recently come across a queer and bizarre story that was leaked by the CIA to a US news website called Foreign Policy, where two of its agents who were disguised as US Senate aides were supposedly spooked by alleged local spooks while they were having a nice time with a local civil society activist at a local café.

We are told the meeting was abruptly cut shot and the duo fled to the sanctuary of the US Embassy, which expeditiously scrambled them out of Zimbabwe.

“The two aides work for the (US) Senate Foreign Relations Committee and were on an official visit to the Southern African country organised in concert with the US Embassy to meet with human rights advocates and other civil society leaders and hear first-hand accounts of Zimbabwe’s deteriorating political and human rights situation,” Foreign Policy dutifully reported.

We are also told that the incident reportedly incensed US Senator Robert Menendez, who subsequently wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden on September 12 encouraging him to “boost support for the country’s increasingly embattled civil society organisations and pro-democracy activists”.

We all know what this means. It actually means a good payday for the ever-swelling ranks of cashvists and quislings who are doing the US’ bidding. Even after losing council elections, we now see these activists in meetings with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken — America’s most senior diplomat — purportedly representing Zimbabweans.

We now see these activists hopping from one plane to the other, travelling to the US to meet American “officials”.

We can only expect more political drama and mischief as the 2023 elections draw closer.

It will all come to naught!

But, thanks to Senator Menendez’s letter to Biden, we now know that the so-called “diplomatic incident” in Harare involving the purported Senate aides (read CIA agents) — never mind how they were flagrantly violating the Vienna Convention — was used by the White House to pre-empt the thorny issue of sanctions on Zimbabwe that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was unavoidably going to raise during his meeting with the US president on September 16

Changing dynamics

South Africa, however, is no longer buying it — not that it ever did.

Our neighbours are currently similarly grappling with the meddlesome activities of the CIA, which is working around the clock to destabilise and degrade the ruling ANC’s hold on power.

On Wednesday last week, the South African High Court issued a final interdict to the country’s spy organisation, State Security Agency (SSA), to prevent the publishing of an intelligence report by journalist Thabo Makwakwa that documents in granular detail activities the CIA has been undertaking to destabilise the ANC.

Of course, South African authorities are fully aware of these shenanigans.

You might have seen that South Africa has of late been standing up against America.

Blinken, for example, had a particularly torrid time during his visit to SA in August.

But all this has to be understood within the broader context of the long-standing plot by the CIA to topple liberation movements in this part of the world. The ultimate consequence is to make regional security apparatus hyper-vigilant to these threats to stability.

Overall, it will make life increasingly difficult for “civil society organisations and pro-democracy activists”, most of whom are resourced and coordinated from foreign jurisdictions.

This stark reality will make the poorly resourced and out-of-sorts opposition incapable of mounting an effective and meaningful challenge against ZANU PF, which is growing both in influence and power as the economy grows.

There is even a greater realisation from the international community that Zimbabwe is rising in spite of sanctions and a global economy that is sinking deeper into recession.

Bishop Lazi told you last year that 2022 would be a turning point for the economy.

Most communities are not only seeing development, but feeling it as well. Their material well-being is being transformed in profound ways that can only translate into bumper votes for the ruling ZANU PF.

Every other economic indicator is pointing north, be it soaring gold deliveries; exponentially rising exports that are certain to break records again this year; record wheat production; increased investments, particularly in mining; and key infrastructure projects that will most likely guarantee durable and sustainable growth.

The emergence of a multi-polar world, which offers Zimbabwe a refreshing source of investments and a market for its goods, is decidedly oiling and turning the wheels of the economy and, most importantly, having a countervailing effect on the asphyxiating impact of sanctions.

As much of the world take flight from the US dollar and forge alternative trading platforms and systems through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — a group comprising of China, Russia, India, Pakistan and some Central Asian states — this can only be sweet news for Harare.

In September, leaders of SCO agreed to take steps to increase the use of national currencies in trade between their countries.

All this is meant to avoid risks associated with the weaponisation of the US dollar and its trading platforms against perceived adversaries.

The world is changing.

For us, it means our patience and belief in the Look East policy is now paying off.

You see, all good things come to those who wait.

James 5: 10-11 says: “Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

Like Job, our wealth is being restored.

Soft landing

America is keenly aware of all these dynamics and has of late been signalling its intention to engage.

For the first time, Zimbabwe has been invited to the US-Africa Summit set for December, which is quite a telling gesture.

In all likelihood, the emerging realities will inform the way Washington would realign its policy and engage Harare post-2023 elections, which their preferred opposition will certainly lose.

Next year, the US has hard choices to make.

It either chooses to continue to be adversarial, in which case it will lose out, or seek rapprochement, in which case it would benefit.

These are the cold, hard facts.

Bishop out!