Sanctions agony revealed

A sacked mining executive has been left to rue the consequences of being blacklisted under targeted sanctions imposed by Western governments on President Robert Mugabe and more than 200 of his lieutenants.

Onesimo Mazai Moyo, the dismissed general manager of the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), has revealed in court documents the degree of agony which goes with being barred from visiting Western countries.

He was suspended without pay in February last year on allegations of gross misconduct and fraud.

Moyo revealed that sanctions were taking a toll on him as he battled to secure a lucrative severance package from the minerals marketing agency, which he recently took to court to settle a labour dispute.

In his statement of claim filed with the Labour Court, Moyo is demanding six months' gross pay in lieu of notice, severance pay of 12 months gross salary, stabilisation payment of nine months' gross salary, cash in lieu of purchase of a motor vehicle, full medical aid cover and school fees to cover 24 months from the date of termination of his employment contract.

Moyo, who had been in the employ of MMCZ since 1994 and who served as general manager from June 1999 until February last year, also wants to receive 80 litres of fuel per week for 24 months, secure office equipment, holiday allowance and access to MMCZ's timeshare facilities, such as the Nyanga, Kariba and Sun City cottages for two years.

The provision of a security guard for 24 months is among other demands and benefits.

Moyo said that he was in a unique and unfortunate position in that he was slapped with targeted travel and financial sanctions as MMCZ general manager when the minerals marketing agency was placed on the sanctions list, and it would therefore be difficult for him to secure employment after his dismissal from MMCZ.

"He is what is referred to as a politically exposed person on the international sanctions list. The effect of this is that his chances of seeking or obtaining alternative employment have been severely dented or diminished. The placement of the claimant (Moyo) on the sanctions list is not of his own making. His only sin is that he is the general manager of MMCZ," said the submission by Moyo's lawyers, TH Chitapi and Associates.

"He is not in control of his removal from the list ... He has been persecuted for doing his job. It is an open secret that the chances of the claimant getting employment in the private sector are next to zero because companies will be most reluctant to associate with a person who has been made an outcast in the international economic world ... He is unable to secure mortgage finance even to purchase a property and equally cannot access offshore finance to pursue private business."

Moyo and the MMCZ were slapped with travel and financial sanctions in 2008 together with entities and individuals connected to Mugabe's government.

However, the MMCZ, which has the exclusive mandate for the selling and marketing of minerals produced in Zimbabwe, except gold and silver, dismissed Moyo's claims. It accuses him of attempting to exploit sanctions rhetoric to bargain in the ongoing labour dispute.

"The placement of the claimant (Moyo) on the sanctions list must not be deemed a permanent disadvantage. Admittedly, the claimant has no control over the process of removal of affected persons from the sanctions list. However, he may not unfairly make bargaining leverage on the matter as he was obviously listed in this capacity as chief executive officer of the MMCZ," reads the agency's response to Moyo's claims.

The agency said once Moyo left MMCZ he would be treated differently. "There would be no logic for any private corporation to deny the claimant employment on the basis of his placement on the sanctions list as the restriction will have, for all practical reasons, fallen away upon vacation of office at MMCZ.

"In any event the political developments in Zimbabwe did not point towards perpetuation of the sanctions. Further still, 'international sanctions' applied to a select basket of European and American destinations and not the whole globe.

"Opportunities available to claimant in other parts of the world remain. Not much must be read into his argument," added MMCZ. The rare disclosure by Moyo gives an insight into the agony which victims of the travel ban go through under sanctions which have been imposed by European and US governments since 2002.