LEAD Position on Child labour and exploitation of mineral resources in DRC

This is the first time that tech-industry companies have jointly faced legal action over the source of cobalt which they use to power smartphones, laptops and electric cars. Extraction of cobalt in DRC is a case of gross human rights violations, child labour, corruption, environmental degradation and violation of labour rights. Unfortunately young children as young as 6 years are made to dig for cobalt with primitive tools in dark underground tunnels. More than 60% of the worlds cobalt comes originates from DRC and we expect respect for human rights by all western and eastern multinational companies exploiting mineral resources in DRC.

This is a real test for America in regard to upholding human rights as they appointed themselves the world prefect who monitors every other country under the sun. Apple, google, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla are five of the richest companies in the world producing some of the world's fanciest gadgets which benefit America's economy, American people & America's government through taxes. By virtue of being a country that sanctions other countries for human rights abuses, the judgement of this case will show the true position of America in regard to their sincerity to protect human rights globally. Anyone who own gadgets from these 5 companies is an indirect supporter of child labour and gross human rights violations of Congolese children. I applaud International Rights Advocates for taking the stand to ensure justice for these vulnerable children. It remains to be seen whether America is a champion of justice in the world or an ally of modern day slavery. I hope for justice and the end of child labour and slavery in DRC and Africa as a whole.

The case filed in the US Court appears to be symbolic as it only claims only compensation for children working in Congolese mines. However, mining by these Chinese and Western companies causes considerable health problems and environmental damage and economic deprivation. Forced labour is the order of the day to ensure unjust enrichment. The Congolese are made to work in substandard mining conditions which do not even meet the ISO regulations. There is negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress. What is truly depressing is the silence of African leaders in the face of modern day slavery in DRC and the continued exploitation of mineral resources in this mineral rich SADC country.

These issues can only be addressed by punishing these five companies to ensure infrastructural development in DRC inline with sustainable development goals. Asking them to play their part in social responsibility is an oxymoron as their interest is just in capitalism and maintaining their wealth  Glencore, other western & chinese companies that are mining cobalt in DRC should build schools that will educate the children that they have been abusing in form of child labour which includes digging for cobalt rocks with primitive tools in dark underground tunnels exposing them to life changing injuries, broken backs and in most cases death from tunnels that collapse. They should build hospitals and compensate all the injuries the congolese  children incurred. The ISO standards are just not for western countries or eastern countries they are standards that should be complied to by every company in the mining industry. There is need to ensure that the cobalt mines comply with world standards in terms of safety and protection of the workers. Anyone who is a victim of labour related injuries should be assisted with all health requirements by the mining companies & the direct beneficiaries of the cobalt which are the 5 tech companies.  Economic deprivation is what has caused child labour in DRC, if these children are empowered and ILO ensures that all mining operations in DRC are not abusing children it will be a step in the right direction to ending child labour.

Africa should speak in one voice in regards to stopping the looting and plundering of Africas resource with no benefit at all for the native Africans. What these companies are doing to children in DRC they would never do to their own children. African children are not lesser human beings. No Chinese or western country will destroy their own resources and Africa can surely stop environmental degradation if we unite and stop the looting by these companies.

The political elite in the DRC has not raised concrete objections against exploitation by Western countries which is a clear sign that they are accomplices in crimes against their own people.

Such a stance remains questionable with regards to the government of DRC. Exploitation elements are very clear but why does it remain a low tone subject? African politics has been characterised by egocentric attitudes and behaviour. The capturing of a few individuals can cause the entire nation to suffer. DRC needs to be clear on such aspects in order to protect issues of national interests. Authorities in DRC should be bold in making sure that DRC is not subjected to exploitation.

The DRC is currently an economic disaster, supposing the case is won what will be the way forward for the children? Is there a plan to handle their economic plight?

American companies are part of the problem yet the case is sent to an American court. Wishing success is just a pipe dream. Can an American court rule against an American economic life line. Or maybe it's just a ploy by Americans to redefine their presence in and economic relations with the DRC.

The DRC has been plagued by devastating wars for many years, which shows that there is a relationship between the wars and the plundering of the country's mineral resources by Western multinational companies.

DRC has been in continuous civil wars and civil unrest due to the the interference by the worlds super powers whose interests are to plunder, exploit the DRC natural resources. DRC is one of the richest countries in copper, diamonds, uranium,tin, tantalum, gold, Colton, Cobalt but the natives are living a miserable life due to political upheavals caused by the Western countries so that they get an opportune time to loot the natural resources under the guise of Peace keeping and reconstruction. Eg Iraq, Libya. 

Natural resource wars are a character of human history not only in the DRC. as with the rest of the world. The West sponsor instability in areas they intend to exploit local resources at no cost. The citizens of those unfortunate who perish or suffer are regarded as collateral damage. It's sad that Congolese perish for their natural resources which they have never enjoyed.

It is tritte to note that these super powers create and sponsor opposition puppet parties so as to create political conflict which eventually degenerates into upheavals or civil wars. They don't do this where there no economic benefit. In other words they apply cost benefit analysis before they engage in interference of internal affairs of sovereign countries They are doing it as well in  Zimbabwe. They did in it Rwanda which culminated into the famous Rwandan genocide.

With 18,000 troops, the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Congo is the largest in the world, and it has been in Congo for 20 years without restoring peace. The contentious question would be, "Why has the UN failed to restore peace in the DRC despite such a massive presence?"

The Objective of the presence of the UN peace keeping mission in the DRC is not to bring about peace in the DRC but to bring peace in the areas where resources are being extracted. They are there to guarantee maximum yield of the exploitation. Besides the said UN forces are paid by the loot from the DRC.

Soldiers may only use force in self defense or when helping to evacuate foreigners thereby fully incapacitating the soldiers in a real peacekeeping mission. This solely means that they're deployed to simply guarantee safety of foreigners and themselves not to do away with war.

This year marks the 59th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba by the CIA. He was eliminated so that the wests agenda of  renewed plundering of post-Independence Congo would be successful.

Lumumba was removed for refusing to play ball. Mobutu was a better partner in Western terms. He was greedy and corruptible. He was easy to manipulate and control. Once the corruption virus had been deployed in the DRC politics it was easy to sustain.

Patrice Emery Lumumba's assassination can be likened to the overthrow Salvador Allende of Chile by the very same CIA. In the case of Chile Allende believed that Chile's resources were supposed to benefit Chile's citizens opposing the CIA & corporate world's perception dat American companies must be given contracts to go exploit the country's resources just like Lumumba believed in the same about the Congolese. In Chile Allende was replaced by General Pinochet a puppet friend of the Corporate World & CIA to enable looting.

It is time that Africa unites and protect its minerals from the imperialists. Africa has been digressing in terms of development over the past three decades which is a real cause of concern for the next generation. What will it take for us to realize that we are one people who should protect our sovereignty as African people? The artificial borders that the colonialists put in Africa do not define who we are and we have no business getting into bed with the west and east who do not care about our children and future generations to come. Africa does not need aid from any country outside Africa. Wake up Africa and take charge of your destiny. 

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira 

LEAD President

LEAD Position on Sanctions and sanction busting measures

1. What has been the major effect of these sanctions?

The effects of sanctions in Zimbabwe are visible to everyone within and outside our borders. Since 2000 we have witnessed  disinvestment in the country leading to closure of industries, reduced foreign direct investment leading to slow economic growth and high rate of emigration resulting in serious brain drain and reduced population.

Sanctions have also increased corruption and externalisation of funds by political elites. High rate of inflation and the devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar.

Proliferation of political parties and high levels of political polarization and political conflict.

ZIDERA sanctions have prohibited loans that were promised at Lancaster House to reconstruct and development Zimbabwe from the liberation war and colonial underdevelopment. 

• The UK, EU and EEC agreed to these loans and aid during Lancaster House Agreement to avoid being forced to pay damages, reparations or nationalization of their assets for their illegal 90yr colonial occupation, which perpetrated a crime against humanity on the Zimbabwean people.

• ZIDERA also has stopped Zimbabwe from getting colonial debt cancellation after the west forced the country to assume Rhodesian high interest debts that were taken illegally from Germany, Switzerland and Austria during UN sanctions. 

• These 2001 blockades are therefore breaches of the Lancaster House Agreement in the same way Britain refused to pay for land was a breach.

• The EO13469 and IEEPA International Emergency Economic Powers Act which were imposed on the entire Zimbabwean government and 143 other entities and those who do business with them by the National Emegency declaration of July 2008, have blocked loans, international payments through US and EU banking systems thereby blocking trade, purchase of machinery, technology, software, medications and the provision of [NGO, aid] assistance to Zimbabwe without license from the US President.

This means that government companies and private companies have been prohibited from retooling, remechanizing and upgrading technology in industry. Thus effectively blocking Zimbabwean industry from being competitive.

It has stopped international exports and imports with payments not being processed, assets being confiscated, affecting balance of payment and the cash flow of companies that export or import.

They have blocked companies like MMCZ from selling our resources, pushing them to use agents who charge huge fees and misappropriate proceeds, losing us money on our resources. They also prohibit the import of vital inputs for agriculture and industry. 

These EO13469 and IEEPA also come with third party extra-jurisdictional sanctions that force other companies in countries outside the US, EU, Australia and Canada to also implement their sanctions if they don’t have a license to trade in Zimbabwe from the US President or face secondary sanctions.

EU sanctions target individuals and companies that are central to investment and trade in Zimbabwe which cripples economic activity. They also block aid unless it’s approved by the European Council. 

Meanwhile the EU, Australia and Canada were included in ZIDERA as joint parties by the US Congress in 2018 making them part and parcel of the enforcement of ZIDERA.

2. What needs to be done to address the issue of these sanctions and mitigate their impact on the livelihoods of the people.

Mitigation measures that Zimbabwe should implement are fiscal reforms including the independence of the RBZ from government. There is need of seriousness in dealing with corruption issues. Revival of the Agriculture and farming sectors. We need to open up our borders and allow trade with other African countries including promotion of a free market economy and trade liberalisation.

Strengthening of the informal sector will also help mitigate sanctions impact on peoples livelihoods and our government should reduce their spending.

NRZ used to be the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy & revival of the transport sector especially the NRZ will assist in restoring economic confidence in the country. Government should be sincere about servicing both domestic and foreign debt.

An unhappy, disgruntled workforce is virtually unproductive thus strengthening the civil service including paying competitive salaries should be governments priority number 1.

Sanctions must be mitigated by the nation prioritizing sanctions.

This means:

• The President Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa should declare a state of emergency against sanctions to make it a national priority in the same way the Americans called it a national emergency.

• The government must set aside resources and focus on educating people about the effects of sanctions on our nation and its people. With that they must also educate people on how we mitigate them as a nation.

• Government must fund, support and coordinate with civil society organizations to generate awareness about the importance of unity, fighting against sanctions and building our self sufficiency to build the nation. It is important to unite Zimbabweans in their diversity in our quest to depolarise the country. Internal engagement between political and civic leaders is key.

The reason the United States spends so much time misinforming our people about sanctions is because division makes them effective. Sanctions require the acquiescence of the people to work. This means unity against sanctions has the potential of destroying their impact.

• Government must build unity in the nation for people to unite in saving, investing, producing, trading and fighting these sanctions. 

• Government must understand that the US and her western governments are targeting the government and its officials to demonize it, this means that government can not fight these sanctions from the front because it’s easy for the west to attack them as being a hinderance to Zimbabwean democracy until we shift this negative portrayal.

• This is why civilians have to lead this fight against the US by fighting for the government they elected and fighting against the collective abuse of their human rights by these sanctions.

• It’s important that as a nation we realize that we are human beings and our human rights are being collectively abused by these sanctions which are illegal according to international law.

3. The UN, AU, Sadc have seen the impact of the embargo on the country, what does this mean?

Zimbabwe should never expect the international or regional bodies to come to our aid. The truth the U.N. for example is hiding behind the USA and EU but actually is complicit to these sanctions and the regime change agenda.

UN, SADC and AU have not yet seen the impact of sanctions, hence they have not yet charged the United States and her western allies for perpetrating a crime against humanity in the UN Human Rights Council and ICJ (International Court Of Justice). 

What the United States and her allies are doing is a crime against humanity (punishing civilians collectively by economic blockades) it’s even a war crime in times of war, so until these organizations start forcefully denouncing this violation by fighting for Zimbabwean human rights and taking action, they have not yet acknowledged the problem.

• SADC, AU and Zimbabwe have also not identified the actions of political parties that support the collective punishment of civilians by sanctions to force them to vote for them, as terrorism. Which means these organizations have not yet fully come to terms with the human rights violation of sanctions.

4. As president of Lead what are you doing in this fight against sanctions.

As a Party our mind and effort is towards the people of Zimbabwe. We are doing all in our power to lobby the international community for the lifting of the Sanctions. We are also lobbying government to adopt policies which help us as a nation to survive the sanctions.

At LEAD we are working for the betterment of Zimbabweans, so we have never supported sanctions but instead we are partnering with new partners in Zimbabwe and outside to work together to fight these sanctions. 

We have even partnered with various Zimbabwean civic society organizations to explore initiating a class action against the US, her allies, companies and local groups that support this crime against humanity upon our people.

5. You are an opposition party leader and the opposition MDC has repeatedly admitted that they called for the sanctions and they continue to look for more sanctions to be piled on the people's plight, is this good politics from an opposition and general persepective.

We as LEAD are a Social Democratic party and as our politics is not confrontational. We may differ with Zanu pf but we will never take an approach which demonize or destroy our country. We will also never work with foreign forces to help us assume power. We know that there is no free lunch in politics. The foreign forces will never invest their money in our politics for no gain. 

Bad politics have affected Zimbabwe for a very long time and it seems that we never learn yet we always boast if being learned. The west used sanctions to destroy Smith and they are doing it again. We never learn because we think that everything foreign is good. That is why as LEAD we are committed to depolarizing and decolonizing Zimbabwean mindsets.

6. From your perspecrive do you think these sanctions will be lifted?

If the world begins to understand that the United States is perpetuating a crime against humanity upon 16mil Zimbabweans, and all peace loving nations, civil society organizations and human rights groups should join hands to fight this gross abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe and other countries, the United States and her allies can be pressured to remove these sanctions.

As long as we are not united and speaking with one voice,    the West will never remove sanctions unless and until they have achieved their objectives. A study of international politics has shown that sanctions a prelude to military invasions.

What the United States and the west are doing today is no different to what they said they fought against in 1939-45 when they fought the mass persecution of Europe and Jews by the Germans because they are persecuting Zimbabweans for taking back the control of our resources which is illegal.

Even when they say they are targeting sanctions on institutions and individuals for human rights abuses. In which court did they try those individuals and which international code, custom or legal administrative process said that the remedy to human rights abuses is economic warfare, embargoes or blockades on civilians? 

Besides who made the countries that perpetuated the worst crimes against humanity that have killed over 300mil people over the past 300yrs (colonialism, slavery and racial genocides) policemen of human rights when that is the sole function of the UN Human Rights Council which has no rulings against Zimbabwe.

Moreover, have they done an impact assessment on how these so called targeted sanctions impact civilians and the enjoyment of their human rights as mandated by the Human Rights Council report HRC39/53

7. What should we do to have sanctions lifted?

To have sanctions lifted in Zimbabwe, we need 16mil Zimbabweans to stand up and protest the violation of their human rights by the same countries that have murdered 3.1mil people in the last 19yrs for oil in the Middle East. This means equipping them with knowledge of their human rights and how they are being abused by the sanctions through a very intensive education campaign.

These are areas the government needs the partnership of civil society organizations and institutions like LEAD to get the message to the grassroots. 

We can also remove these sanctions by partnering with countries under sanctions and western wars to join hands in wakening the world that we need to stand up against US hegemony otherwise we will all be victims tomorrow.

Recently the Americans were pressuring Germany to stop the construction of its Russian gas pipeline or face sanctions. This means that even European countries are not immune to this hegemony and colonial dictatorship that the US seeks to impose on the world through sanctions, so we should reach out to western countries as well for us to fight for freedom. 

8. Lets say the sanctions are not lifted, how can we the livelihoods of the people be bettered under the sanctions.

Even if sanctions are not lifted, if we unite, begin to save, invest in producing by farming, mining, processing our resources and trading with nations aligned with our interests, we can weather the storm and actually prosper.

As a country we should simply sanitize our politics and work as a nation towards creating a conducive economic environment for growth and development. Our way out and forward is our natural resources and human capital

We just have to fight the Americans sponsoring destabilization that could give them grounds to invade.

If our president calls for a national emergency that clamps down on wasteful expenditure, pointless imports of Bugattis and luxuries, punishing currency trading and corruption, if the national emergency forces people to use forex only for production, we can prosper our nation. 

The state of emergency must force all Zimbabweans including politicians into wartime discipline and austerity for us to be victorious. 

We must also reach out to African Americans and the African diaspora to invest in our country which has vast resources and land to make them wealthy.

PRACTICAL WAYS TO GROW OUR ECONOMY THROUGH LAND

 

✅ In Zimbabwe we have more than 45mil hectares of land. 16mil hectares of that are prime land. 

✅ It takes just 1/16th of a hectare to produce enough grain, vegetables and beans to feed a family of six people for a whole year when using intensive farming techniques.

✅ One hectare of land is able to produce between 1-20tons of maize or 1-60tons of beans or 1-80 ton of vegetables like pumpkin.

✅ This means that 1 hectare of land can feed 36-106 people, therefore we need at least about 444444hectares of our land prime to be intensively cultivated to feed the whole country. 

✅ Most families in Zimbabwe on average have 10 hectares of land in their mother and father’s villages sitting idle. 

SO HOW DO WE GET TO PRODUCE?

✅ Start off by each and every person with money paying jobless relatives to farm at least 1hectare of land in our mother and father’s villages to produce enough to feed their family. Don’t send handouts for them to spend.

✅ Then persuade other employed family members to sponsor farming of an extra hectare or two of the remaining 9 hectares to generate more food to sell at market.

✅ After harvest reinvest proceeds over the next few years to erect a fence, borehole, irrigation, solar, biogas, livestock pens and use more land to produce food for the family, livestock and sale.

✅ Biogas plant gives free organic fertilizer to keep the soil fertile, gas to cook or even electricity.

✅ If we collectively invest in fences, boreholes, irrigation, solar, biogas and home improvements we mitigate drought while creating millions of jobs for installers and maintainers of these facilities.

✅ Surplus agri-produce will require canning and packaging for sale. This drives agro-processing and manufacture of components and replacement parts for the farm and processing factories. 

✅ This creates jobs, more people make money from farming, agro-processing and servicing the farmers. Money circulates and we create demand for more products and new industries grow.

✅ People bank what they earn, banks start lending money to more people who are producing and our banking system starts working rather than money being peddled on the black market. 

 

✅ Those with no money can also join others in contributing small amounts in farming cooperatives

Upgrade your status in 2020

No matter what your new year resolution is.....

The type of people in your life have a lot to do in your journey of life. Never start a new year without screening the people in your life. 

Evaluating them will let you know who to upgrade, downgrade or totally terminate. 

Always remember not everybody deserves the front seat to participate in the movie of your life. 

Anyone who is not adding any value to your life shouldn't be in the front line of your life. The dream of a sadist is for every body to be miserable in life. 

Those who cannot see greatness in their own life, will never see anything good in your own life. Whoever sees or treats you as an option doesn't deserve to be a priority in your life. 

Never put temporary people in the permanent place of your life & don't be afraid of removing the wrong people from the right place of your life. 

If its your life then its your right to choose who you walk with in this journey called life. Be bold to take any decision concerning your life. 

If they call it pride tell them its class. 

Lions don't mingle with cats.

#SundaySensation by Linda Mambokadzi wekwaMasarira