Decades-long Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe have reportedly given a fresh impetus to innovation and triggered technological progress as the country struggles to secure its economic recovery.
The USA and its Western partners imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, due to concerns over human rights abuses and a lack of democratic reforms. After the sanctions were imposed, Zimbabwe faced significant economic and social challenges, including reduced access to international credit and investment. The country witnessed its currency collapsing, unemployment doubling and the goods deficit surging to record highs. Although the sanctions were not the only reason for this turmoil, with war and inappropriate policies having also contributed, they played a major role in Zimbabwe’s financial instability. In March 2024, the USA lifted the sanctions although they remained in force against 11 individuals and three companies.
A facelift for Zimbabwe
However, the country had already begun to focus on developing local capacities and innovations to counter the hardships resulting from the sanctions in 2018.
Tedious Ncube, a public policy analyst and entrepreneur, commented that in retaliation to the sanctions the government “has set the stage for growth and innovation”. Specifically, in 2018, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science, and Technology Development initiated a strategic program that aimed to produce graduates with the skills and knowledge to address national challenges and foster a culture of entrepreneurship and technological advancement.
According to state media reports:
“One of the key pillars of this technological innovation strategy is the transformation of the country’s higher education system. Universities and colleges are encouraged to become hubs of innovation, where students and researchers can work on solutions to the nation’s pressing challenges.”
As a result, young people began contributing to homegrown solutions, demonstrating resilience and adaptability in the face of economic adversity.
One example is The Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) which has a strong track record of producing graduates who excel in various fields, notably as technopreneurs who have launched successful business enterprises. These HIT business enterprises alumni have significantly contributed to the Zimbabwean economy by creating jobs and offering innovative solutions across multiple sectors, including engineering, technology, finance, energy, health, education, food, and agriculture.
However, Ncube explained:
“It is important to recognize that the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe still pose significant challenges. They restrict access to advanced technology and infrastructure, making it difficult for young innovators to compete globally. Many struggle to obtain the latest hardware or reliable internet access, which hampers their potential”.
With the drive for economic recovery, other young people have also accessed money making opportunities after the government of Zimbabwe awarded 10 hectares of land to scores of youths for sustainable farming in 2023.
More than 6000 young farmers in Zimbabwe were connected through various digital farming platforms last year. The Food and Agricultural Organization has also been part of this initiative and has conducted a digital literacy Training of Trainer which resulted in the appointment of 27 agricultural extension officers in Bulawayo who will champion rural digital transformation and are poised to drive rural agricultural transformation in Zimbabwe.
Sanctions as national resilience or government deflection?
Meanwhile, the debate about the reality of sanctions in Zimbabwe has now been rumbling for years with some observing that the sanctions sabotaged the economy while others lay the blame for this on political crisis and corruption.
Zimbabwe’s award-winning investigative journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono, took to social media saying that those who actually believe that sanctions remain are ignorant.
“Anyone saying there are sanctions on Zimbabwe is not only ignorant, they also assume that the people they are telling are ignorant. The reasons for these people and entities being sanctioned are corruption and abuse of citizens through abductions and use of state institutions to not only steal, but to violate Zimbabwe’s constitution,” Chin’ono wrote on his X account.
Development economist Prosper Chitambara acknowledged that both corruption and sanctions have had an adverse impact in Zimbabwe explaining that:
“With sanctions, we cannot directly control these but with corruption, we can do a lot, so we need to place more focus on things we can control. We have seen how it has been difficult to do business with American partners and even with the Western world in the past years because of the enhanced risk premium.”
Hopewell Chin’ono observed:
“Zimbabwe has gone for three years without a single working radiotherapy cancer machine and as a result, it now has the highest rate of cancer deaths in the world due to the looting and corruption authored by these people. Pensioners have no access to the money they contributed because of these people, it has been stolen and this is what they were sanctioned for, if you see nothing wrong with stealing from the old then you are mentally deranged,” Chn’ono said.
“Public central hospitals don’t even have basic medicines like paracetamol because of this corruption. I could go on but we all know how Zimbabwe is so messed up. Right now we have over 70 political prisoners in jail yet they have committed NO crime. Journalists are jailed for exposing corruption and citizens end up running away to prevent being abducted and jailed,” he added.
Speaking to journalists in Masvingo on her Great Zimbabwe tour, United States of America Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Pamela Tremont said:
“We are committed to serve the Zimbabwean people. America will not be complicit in corruption and human rights violations. We have the right to regulate our banks and who they do business with. The fact that individuals cannot have personal banking accounts is now what is holding Zimbabwe back. We will ignore the vitriol and continue to stand with the Zimbabwean people.”
