Mnangagwa left red-faced after his anti-sanctions march FLOPPED

 Emmerson Mnangagwa was yesterday left red-faced after only 7 000 people turned up for his much-hyped anti-sanctions march.Zimbabweans, battling skyrocketing prices, rising inflation and low pay, snubbed the march against the West to remove sanctions imposed in 2001.

The giant National Sports Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 60 000, was sparsely occupied as even some of the people bussed from outside Harare opted to fight over freebies, which included T-shirts and food, which were being dished outside the venue.In the run up to the march, Zanu PF party and government officials demanded that schoolchildren be released to take part in the march, while Mnangagwa declared a national holiday to facilitate attendance.

Mnangagwa is struggling to deal with Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in a decade, with the country enduring rolling power cuts of up to 18 hours daily and shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and medicines.The European Union (EU) and United States imposed financial and travel bans on top Zanu PF and top figures for alleged human rights abuses and electoral fraud in 2001.The EU has since removed the embargo.In the days leading to the march, most government workers were being threatened to attend and that registers would be marked at the protest.

Some buses deployed to pick up participants from various areas across the country came back empty after people snubbed them, with one 75-seater bus coming with seven passengers from Mvurwi in Mashonaland Central.“We were 32 passengers on the bus from Mvurwi, but the second bus only had seven people on board,” said one participant who requested anonymity.“We were being threatened with being denied inputs for this year’s agricultural season if we failed to come to Harare for the anti-sanctions march.”

Addressing the participants, who marched from Robert Mugabe Square to the stadium, Mnangagwa thanked people “from all walks of life who came in such large numbers to mark this important day.He said the sanctions had caused untold suffering to the ordinary people and were perpetuating the cycle of poverty in the country.“Thank you Sadc by standing by us and for speaking with one voice at the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly.We also say thank you to the African Union and progressive world, for supporting us during these difficult years in the history of our economy,” Mnangagwa said.

He claimed that the sanctions were a reaction to the land reform programme.“Ours was a fight to reunite the people with their land and the land with its people, which promise we fulfilled during the land reform exercise.However, this had dire consequences, and led to the imposition of the illegal and unjustified sanctions by the European Union and the United States of America.”.He said the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, passed in 2001, prohibits Zimbabwean entities from doing business with the US and denies the country access to international lines of credit from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank as well development finance.

“Zidera has blocked Zimbabwe’s access to international credit markets, leading to the drying up of traditional sources of external finance,” he said, adding that the negative perception created by the embargoes denied the country foreign inflows.Mnangagwa claimed that his government had taken deliberate steps to make political and economic reforms.“The far-reaching implications on Sadc’s ability to achieve its collective targets in the social, economic and financial spheres cannot be ignored.This is the reality of these sanctions. No amount of propaganda can spin or sugar-coat this gruesome truth.”