In March 2019, just a month before the United States of America opened its new $300 million embassy complex in Harare, a group of Zimbabweans moved to the new site to start a continuous protest against the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US on the southern African nation nearly two decades previously. And for the past six-plus years (2,273 days on June 19), members of the group that is called the Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) have camped outside the imposing embassy compound day and night… in heat, in rain, in cold and in wind, vowing only to leave on the day Washington unconditionally lifts the sanctions that they say are responsible for the socio-economic hardships that the people of Zimbabwe have endured for more than two decades. 

“We are not going to leave this place until the US unconditionally removes the illegal sanctions that it has unilaterally imposed on Zimbabwe,” BAAS co-founder and spokesperson Sally Ngoni told Al Mayadeen English in an interview at the protest site that has become her home.

Land reforms resulted in the sanction

In 2001, after the government of the late Robert Mugabe seized vast swathes of farmland from minority white settlers of European extract under a land reform programme aimed at addressing colonial land distribution imbalances, the US congress passed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) which makes it US policy to oppose IMF, World Bank, and any other multilateral financing for Zimbabwe until land is returned to the white farmers. In 2003, President George Bush’s administration went further to impose a raft of punitive measures against individuals and business entities in Zimbabwe. These sanctions have largely been maintained over the past two and a half decades with various updates and alterations.

After trying to engage the US for a long time without success, a number of various local anti-sanctions lobby groups came together to form BAAS, whose members began camping outside the US embassy on March 29, 2019, a month ahead of its official opening on May 2 of that year.

“So far it has been 2,273 days and we are going to continue advocating for the removal of all sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, we are going to continue with this vigil until the sanctions have been removed unconditionally,” said Ngoni, who told Al Mayadeen English that three members of the original group have since died while about six children have been born during this protracted protest period. 

Countless letters, petitions

In March 2024, former US President Joe Biden reduced the scope of the sanctions by issuing an executive order terminating the Bush orders of 2003, effectively removing 120 individuals and entities from the sanctions list. However, Biden shifted to the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows for sanctions to be imposed on individuals allegedly linked to corruption and human rights violations, to impose sanctions on President Emmerson Mnangagwa and 13 members of his inner circle. Ngoni says as far as BAAS is concerned, nothing has changed because sanctions on Zimbabwe have continued.

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Over the past six years, BAAS has also delivered several dozen letters and petitions to the embassy, all of which have largely been ignored. In May 2023, Ngoni and her anti-sanctions lobby group went further to file a court application at the High Court in Harare seeking reparations from the US for the socio-economic harm that they say the sanctions have caused to Zimbabwe over the two decades of their existence.

“We have sent countless letters, countless petitions, but they have not responded, but we have always known that they are stubborn and they will not respond, but we are prepared to continue with our protest… We know that inside their hearts, they are really moved by our continued presence here. It is not easy that every day when you walk out of your house, you see someone protesting against you, each and every day, day-in and day-out… in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening.” 

Ngoni said that so far, two US ambassadors to Zimbabwe have lived through this experience, and they are determined to ensure that this remains the experience of all US representatives in the African country until their country does the right thing.

‘Nothing like ‘smart’ sanctions’

While the US insists that its ‘smart sanctions’ are aimed at a few individuals, the Zimbabwean government has always highlighted that their impact is felt throughout the whole economy, with ordinary citizens suffering the most.

“There is nothing like smart sanctions when in the first place the sanctions are illegal, unjustified and arbitrary, because they were not imposed by the United Nations, but by the US and its allies in their own individual capacities, so we can’t say they are smart sanctions when they are never justified in the first place.”

UN special rapporteur called for sanctions removal

In October 2021, Alena Douhan, the United Nations special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, visited Zimbabwe to examine the impact of the unilateral sanctions on the country.

In her final report, she noted that the sanctions, including secondary sanctions, and over-compliance by foreign banks and companies have had a significant negative impact on the people and the government of Zimbabwe, thus worsening the country’s pre-existing economic and humanitarian challenges.

Douhan went on to recommend the immediate lifting of the sanctions in line with the principles of international law. 

“We want to know why they haven’t removed the sanctions that were declared illegal and unjustified by the UN rapporteur,” Ngoni said.

‘One day the sanctions will be gone’

Themba Ndebele, the national chairperson of the Movement Against Zim Sanctions (MAZ), another organization that is part of BAAS, told Al Mayadeen English that there is a need to speak with one strong voice against the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

“We are always here to encourage our colleagues, who are camped in this place, in their fight against these illegal sanctions. The reason we are fighting these measures is to defend our land, and we are just hoping that in the next few weeks, months, or years, all sanctions against Zimbabwe will be gone.”