UK slaps sanctions on 4 Zimbabwean officials

HARARE, Zimbabwe

The UK on Monday imposed sanctions on four Zimbabwean government officials, the first since the country left the European Union.

Effective as of Dec. 31, 2020, the sanctions have been imposed on the Southern African country’s Minister of State Security Owen Ncube, police chief Godwin Matanga, Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) Isaac Moyo, and former Presidential Guard Commander Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe .

These government officials, according to UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, “are responsible for the worst human rights violations against the people of Zimbabwe since President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power in November 2017.”

Raab said on Twitter: “Today we have issued new sanctions against four people responsible for the worst human rights violations in Zimbabwe in 2019, including the killing of 23 innocent people. The UK will hold to account those who engage in such appalling human rights abuses.

“These sanctions target senior individuals in the government, and not ordinary Zimbabweans. We will continue to press for the necessary political and economic reforms that will benefit all Zimbabweans.”

The latest sanctions effectively restrict the four officials from travelling to the UK, channel money through the UK banks or conduct business with the UK firms.

The United States of America has also maintained its sanctions on Zimbabwe’s top leaders.

According to the UK Foreign Office, 65-year-old Sanyatwe, who was a former Presidential Guard Commander and now the country’s ambassador to Tanzania, “is responsible for the commission of serious human rights violations by military personnel in the National Reaction Force involved in the crackdown on an opposition protest carried out on Aug. 1, 2018, leading to the deaths of six people by virtue of his role as Tactical Commander of that force at the relevant time.”

Zimbabwe’s State Security Minister Ncube, 53, according to the UK Foreign Office, “bears responsibility for serious human rights violations, including systematic torture, committed by the security forces in the context of the heavy crackdown on protests in January 2019 by virtue of his position as minister of state for national security at the relevant time.”

The UK also said Zimbabwe’s police chief, 59-year-old Matanga, “bears responsibility for serious human rights violations committed by the police and military during the crackdown on post-election protests in August 2018, which resulted in six civilian deaths.”

CIO boss Moyo, according to the UK Foreign Office, “has been responsible for acts that constitute serious human rights violations and has also been involved in other actions that undermined the rule of law in Zimbabwe.”

The Zimbabwe Defense Industries was also designated, forbidding UK companies from selling arms to the Southern African nation.