THE Zanu PF government has, through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, invited researchers to conduct an in-depth scientific study into the economic impact of trade and travel sanctions imposed on its leadership by Western countries.
Source: Research on sanctions commissioned – NewsDay Zimbabwe September 20, 2016
BY KHANYILE MLOTSHWA
According to a call for proposal posted in the local Press at the weekend, government is dangling $150 000 to an interested “consortium of local and international researchers” to carry out the project, funded through the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund.
“A comprehensive report with full results of the study will be required by the ministry within 12 months following receipt of the funding,” the Jonathan Moyo-led ministry said.
The ministry expressed hope the research would “find a coherent answer” on the question of the economic impact of the declared and undeclared sanctions on the country and its citizens.
Western countries have argued that the “targeted” sanctions imposed in 2001, were meant to punish President Robert Mugabe’s regime for alleged gross human rights abuses and electoral fraud, but government insists the sanctions were hurting ordinary citizens.
“The economic sanctions, which have been imposed on Zimbabwe by Western countries following the country’s land redistribution programme, have so far been described mainly from a political perspective,” the ministry said.
“This has led to varying views being expressed depending on one’s political inclination. In reality, the core characteristics of these sanctions were initiated by the temporary withdrawal of Zimbabwe’s credit lines by the World Bank in 1997.”
The call for proposal is directed at “highly-qualified economists from reputable academic institutions”.
“It has since been estimated that the sanctions have cost Zimbabwe well in excess of $42 billion, since 2001, which seriously affected various vulnerable groups of the country’s population. Many Zimbabweans took advantage of their own high quality skills to leave the country, resulting in a huge human capital capacity gap, especially in critical scientific disciplines. Technology transfer, particularly from the technologically-advanced countries, suffered significant retardation,” Moyo’s ministry said.
“The study should also provide an informative qualitative characterisation of these embargoes from various perspectives, including economic, trade, financial, technological, cultural, medical, academic and diplomatic isolation, travel bans, etc.”
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