Presidential elections are scheduled to occur March 9–10, and the imperialist rulers in Europe, led by London, are hoping to ease out of office President Robert Mugabe, the leading figure in the government of Zimbabwe since the country won independence from Britain in 1980.

The sanctions under consideration would freeze assets held by Mugabe and others in his government held in Europe and impose a visa ban on them traveling anywhere on the continent.

According to a CNN report, the sanctions would also be imposed if the Mugabe government "prevents the international media from reporting the elections, if the human rights situation gets any worse--and they can be imposed later if the election is assessed as not being free and fair."

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, is backing the EU government's plans to slap sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, London is pressing for the removal of Zimbabwe from the 54-nation Commonwealth, composed primarily of former British colonies.

These moves come in the context of a deepening economic crisis facing working people in Zimbabwe and a legacy of backwardness imposed by a near-century of British colonial rule, and by imperialist exploitation and debt bondage. Today the country's foreign debt stands at $4 billion, while 60 percent of the population of 12.5 million is living below the government-declared poverty line, more than 50 percent are unemployed, 25 percent of the adult population are infected with HIV/AIDS, and life expectancy at birth is just 37.1 years.

The land question remains at the heart of the crisis in Zimbabwe. There are more than 6 million landless peasants and about 4,500 mainly white capitalist farmers who dominate agricultural production and own as much as 80 percent of the arable land.

Over the past couple of years Mugabe has organized a bureaucratic campaign of "land seizures." These actions have had nothing to do with carrying out a much-needed radical agrarian reform to advance the struggle of the workers and peasants of the country. Rather, they are carried out solely to benefit government officials and supporters of the ruling party--the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. Nonetheless, these actions have brought the ire of London and Washington on the Mugabe regime, along with moves toward greater imperialist intervention into the country aimed at ending his rule.
 
 
Related article:
No sanctions on Zimbabwe  
 
 
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