Zimbabwe president’s son faces US sanctions over graft allegations

Emmerson Mnangagwa Junior the son of the current Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been added to the list of US sanctions.
Emmerson Mnangagwa Junior was identified by the US government as the one in charge of his father’s business interests related to a businessman accused of corruption.

This comes when President Joe Biden hosted a major summit of African leaders in Washington D.C this week.

US Treasury said in a statement.“We urge the Zimbabwean government to take meaningful steps towards creating a peaceful, prosperous, and politically vibrant Zimbabwe and to address the root causes of many of Zimbabwe’s ills: corrupt elites and their abuse of the country’s institutions for their personal benefit.

The goal of sanctions is behaviour change. Today’s actions demonstrate our support for a transparent and prosperous Zimbabwe.”

The Treasury Department announced that it was adding four Zimbabwean people and two companies that are linked to prominent businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei and his Sakunda Holdings, both of which are already on the US sanctions list.

US sanctions on Zimbabwe freeze any assets of the targeted individuals and companies that may be in the US jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them.

President Mnangagwa and scores of other ruling Zanu PF officials as well as security chiefs are targeted by the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe over two decades ago over alleged human rights violations, corruption, and electoral fraud.

Washington said the tightening of the sanctions regime was meant to foster behaviour change on the part of Zimbabwe’s government.
The US added Mr Tagwirei’s wife, Sandra Mpunga, and two business executives, Nqobile Magwizi and Obey Chimuka, from companies linked to the wealthy businessman.

It also listed two companies, Fossil Agro and Fossil Contracting, which are both connected to Mr Tagwirei and Sakunda Holdings.

President Mnangagwa has been pushing for the lifting of Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe since taking over from long-time ruler Robert Mugabe following a military coup in 2017, but the US insists that the Harare administration is not doing enough to warrant the lifting of the embargo.

GAROWE ONLINE