The Herald/Allafrica.com
The case against US/EU sanctions on Zimbabwe continues to be vexatious.
Not only is it not disputed that the sanctions constitute a violation of Zimbabwe's sovereignty; there is disagreement as to whether Zimbabwe's present economic condition has been precipitated by the US and EU sanctions.
Whatever the differing perceptions, there is no doubt that the sanctions sting is hurting the economy.
Whichever side of the argument you fall, the reality is that the US and the EU have in place sanctions regimes against Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's oppositional Press, parroting the view of EU diplomats in Harare, would rather blame the government for precipitating the economic malady through policy failure, maladministration, the land reform programme and lately indigenisation and economic empowerment.
Yet on the other hand, the US and EU have stood firm to maintain the sanctions.
There is talk that the EU may not drop the sanctions after all when they meet to review the so-called "restrictions" in March, but may even toughen their stance.
The reality on the ground is that Zimbabwe has experienced unprecedented economic implosion in the last eight years during which the US and EU sanctions have been in place.
To say the sanctions have not had any effect or impact is both cognitively dissonant and delusional, feeding on a deceptive western media slant that seeks to blame the victim.
Others have been less gullible to the all too powerful media onslaught on Zimbabwe.
These are the people who have rightly diagnosed sanctions as the oncogene at the centre of Zimbabwe's economic malaise.
Rightly so, they have also come to realise that whatever the nation may try to do to come out of the current economic quagmire may not achieve much for as long as the EU and US sanctions are in place.
Among these realists are the likes of the sitting president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Joseph Kanyekanye, who drew the ire of the MDC in Victoria Falls last week for daring to highlight the simple fact that unless the sanctions go, there will not be goodwill for much needed foreign investment in Zimbabwe, let alone enough prospects for economic turnaround.
The most vocal campaigner against sanctions has however, been Senator Aguy Georgias, founder and CEO of Trinity Engineering, who is also Deputy Minister of Public Works in the inclusive Government.
Single-handedly, at great personal cost, he has been fighting the battle in the courts, first in the British High Court and now at the European Court of Justice with a case pending in the ECJ's Court of First Instance.
Georgias is now seeking to strengthen the campaign against sanctions with a call for class action by the Senate, the upper house of Zimbabwe's polarised Parliament.
The question, however, lingers; is tripartite support for class action against sanctions likely given the backdrop of a deeply divided house that has had to adjourn until February for failure to conduct business.
Ingutsheni came to Senate last week as bedlam ruled with MDC senators disrupting the business of the house over the issue of the re-appointment of provincial governors David Karimanzira (Harare) Faber Chidarikire (Mashonaland West) Thokozile Mathuthu (Matabeleland South) and Martin Dinha (Mashonaland Central). The MDC protest led the Senate President Edna Madzogwe to adjourn the house's sitting until February.
The current gridlock in the inclusive Government over disputed issues of appointments of provincial governors and ambassadors presents a hurdle for Georgias to marshal concerted government action against sanctions.
Although the case was unsuccessful, Libya set a precedent in bringing a suit in the International Court of Justice claiming the UN sanctions imposed on it for refusing to surrender the men accused of perpetrating the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 were a violation of Libya's sovereignty.
Zimbabwe's case may not have to go to the ICJ as the sanctions against it have not been mandated by the UN, but rather unilaterally imposed by the US and by the EU.
It is worth noting that there are two types of law that govern the international system. One is the law of the political jungle.
This can be defined as an every state for itself system in which power is often what determines the course of events in a world divided.
Especially for matters, that states consider vital to their interests, the law of power, of authority, of gold and guns, has prevailed more often than not and continues to do so.
Economic statecraft -- the practice of states utilising economic instruments, such as sanctions, to gain their political ends -- is the common tool.
The second type of law is international law, where sovereign states conduct relations based on the mounting body of norms, treaties and other standards that form the foundation of modern international law.
There are a number of international courts in the world today.
One such is the ECJ, a regional court.
Georgias, on the advice of his London solicitors, sees great chance of success in a class action suit by Zimbabwe at the European Court of First Instance. Armed with this knowledge, he has repeatedly sought governmental support for this action.
Since September 2009, at a ministerial retreat in Nyanga, Georgias has made the observation that the EU and US sanctions were an albatross on Zimbabwe's economic turnaround efforts. At Nyanga, with promises of action, both Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara concurred that sanctions had to go for Zimbabwe to make economic progress.
Again this last September 2010, at a similar ministerial review of economic strategy, at Wild Geese on the outskirts of Harare, Georgias repeated his call for joint government action against the sanctions.
This time however, the Prime Minister's response was that the government had put together a committee headed by Economic Development Minister Elton Mangoma that was to visit Brussels to ask the EU to remove the sanctions.
Mangoma's committee eventually made the jaunt to Brussels.
But to Georgias' utter disillusionment, surprisingly Mangoma's team hardly raised the issue of sanctions with the EU -- the main item on their agenda with the Europeans.
Now that the senate has adjourned to February, what are the implications for Georgias' planned call to the house to bring a class action suit to the EU?
Says Georgias: "Obviously one feels taken aback by such misguided actions that deliver no value to the people. We have serious matters to deal with as a nation.
"The sanctions are a real threat to our sovereign interests as a nation. So are many other important bills up for consideration by the house. And people should go singing and dancing in Senate? Surely we need to show more seriousness and maturity in dealing with national issues".
And so what then will you do Senator? I asked Georgias. In characteristic response, said Georgias: "we have to decide as a people, whether to dwell on trivia, or on substantive matters of our economic interest? I choose to remain focussed. We are in it together.
"We have to see what is in our best interests as a nation. What future we bequeath on our offspring is our own responsibility, not that of the Americans, the British or Europeans.
"It is time to sober up and to proceed with vision and foresight. We have to contest the sanctions. We can ignore them only to our peril. There is always a danger when the victim identifies with the aggressor. It clouds your thinking".
When Zanu-PF was fighting to liberate this country, thousands of people died in the process, some buried in mass graves and if Zanu-PF gives-up now, it will be a serious betrayal of those who died.
SEE ALSO:
Tsvangirai can be sued over sanctions
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