Cape Town - The ANC has urged the US and EU to lift the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, saying this was having a stranglehold on its economy.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, who was speaking on the day of solidarity with Zimbabwe, said the sanctions were designed to force countries who disagree with the Western powers to toe the line.
Magashule said sanctions had been used in Venezuela, Cuba and Palestine to force these countries to agree with the West.
He said the ANC had always shared the same ideology with these countries and would not allow the use of sanctions because of their political beliefs.
He said US and EU diplomats had described the Southern Africa Development Community day of solidarity with Zimbabwe as a political statement by the regional body.
But Magashule said they take strong exception to this as the sanctions were biting Zimbabwe.
“The ANC takes strong umbrage to such dismissive and arrogant language.
“As a liberation movement we are very clear that these are the actions and words of those who want to
keep us as developing nations in perpetual economic servitude and on a restraining leash that they can use to rein us in at their whim any time,” said Magashule.
He said sanctions must end now.
Zimbabweans have been suffering for many years because of sanctions which were imposed when the late President Robert Mugabe was
in charge.
Mugabe, his wife Grace, and some of his allies and cabinet ministers were hit with sanctions by the US and EU.
On his travels to UN meetings abroad, Mugabe spoke out against sanctions, saying they will not deter him from fighting colonialism.
Magashule said the ANC would never stop supporting Zimbabwe.
President Cyril Ramaphosa also recently spoke out against the sanctions in that country. He urged the US and EU to lift the sanctions.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been on international trips to get his country’s economy back on track.
The ANC has had close ties with ruling party Zanu-PF.
Magashule said the solidarity action with Zimbabwe will continue as long as sanctions were imposed on that country.
The Zimbabwean government has been trying to lift the economy but its currency has been collapsing and hyper-inflation has driven food
prices up.
Politics Bureau