Zimbabwe needs help with in R160bn debt. The US isn’t interested until it cleans up its act 

• Zimbabwe owes international creditors approximately R160 billion.
• The USA says it is not interested in helping until Zimbabwe cracks down on corruption and political violence.
• Nine years after the kidnapping of journalist and pro-democracy activist Itai Dzamara, his whereabouts are unknown.

After last year’s disputed general elections and political violence, the US will not be getting involved in the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Zimbabwe debt talks, at least not until the country gets its act together.

“We have paused our participation in the AfDB talks due to what we see as a lack of progress on democratic reforms. We also paused it due to alleged voter fraud in the past election, as well as political violence targeted at opposition parties,” said David Gainer, the Acting Deputy Assistant in the Bureau of African Affairs at the US Department of State.

Zimbabwe owes international creditors around R160 billion, nearly 70% of that now in arrears.

At the last round of meetings in July last year, AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina said Zimbabwe’s issues were not just economic or financial. Governance, rule of law, human rights, freedom of speech, level political playing fields, and electoral reforms were also a big part of the problem.

The US has a long list of demands before it will be part of the talks.

“We want to see the abandonment of abuses by security forces that have included, in the past, unlawful or arbitrary killings, kidnap, torture, and assault on civilians. We want to see the corruption stopped. We want to see [an end] to the misappropriation of state assets, and the expropriation of private assets for personal gain,” said Gainer.

Arbitrary kidnappings

One of the most notable human rights abuses in Zimbabwe is the kidnapping and disappearance of journalist cum pro-democracy activist Itai Dzamara, nine years ago this week.

On 9 March 2015, five men at a barbershop in Harare’s Glen View suburb approached Dzamara and accused him of stock theft.

They handcuffed him and bundled him into a white truck with concealed licence plates.

He’s not been seen since then.

Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International’s deputy regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said Dzamara’s case showed how dangerous it was to be a pro-democracy activist in the country.

She said:

“Their failure to launch an effective investigation into Dzamara’s disappearance sends the chilling message that activists seeking to demand accountability from the government are no longer safe.”

Dzamara was targeted after he called for mass demonstrations over a failing economy, and called for then-president Robert Mugabe to step down.