U.S. slaps sanctions on son of Zimbabwe’s president ahead of Africa summit

--:--
WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on the son of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, several other Zimbabwean nationals and two entities, as part of Washington's efforts to address corruption in the country.
The move comes the day before the start of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, when U.S. President Joe Biden will meet presidents of African countries.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said Monday’s move imposed sanctions on four Zimbabwean nationals and two entities it accused of being tied to businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, who was designated by Washington in 2020 for providing support to the leadership of Zimbabwe.
The Treasury has accused Tagwirei of using his relationship with Zimbabwe officials to gain state contracts and receive favored access to hard currency, including U.S. dollars, and in turn has provided items, including expensive cars, to senior officials of the country.
“Since former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s 2017 departure, Tagwirei used a combination of opaque business dealings and his ongoing relationship with President Mnangagwa to grow his business empire dramatically and rake in millions of U.S. dollars,” the statement read.
Washington on Monday said Emmerson Mnangagwa, Jr., the president’s son, has been in charge of the president’s business interests related to Tagwirei.
The president is also under U.S. sanctions.
Also hit with sanctions were Sandra Mpunga, Nqobile Magwizi, Fossil Agro, Fossil Contracting, and Obey Chimuka, for their ties to Tagwirei and his company, Sakunda Holdings.
Zimbabwe’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“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 Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.
Monday’s move freezes any U.S. assets of those designated and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.
12 Dec 2022 2PM English South Africa News · News Commentary

Other recent episodes

Jury finds former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape

LOS ANGELES, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape and two other sexual assault counts by a Los Angeles jury on Monday, marking the second conviction of the onetime Hollywood kingmaker who became the face of #MeToo sexual abuse allegations five years ago…
19 Dec 2022 9PM 5 min

Trump Should Be Prosecuted for Role in Jan. 6 Capitol Attack, US House Panel Says

(Bloomberg) -- A House committee recommended Donald Trump be prosecuted for his role in the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol, the first-ever such referral of a former US president in the culmination of a 17-month investigation. The committee voted unanimously Monday to refer Trump for prosecution for multiple…
19 Dec 2022 2PM 4 min

Musk poll shows 57.5% want him to step down as Twitter chief

Dec 19 (Reuters) - A poll by Elon Musk on whether he should quit as Twitter CEO showed the majority of users of the social media platform who took part voted in favor of the move, after the poll ended on Monday. About 57.5% votes were for “Yes”, while 42.5%…
19 Dec 2022 6AM 1 min

Twitter prohibits users from promoting accounts on Facebook, Mastodon

Dec 18 (Reuters) - Twitter on Sunday said that it will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames. The move would impact content from social media platforms like Meta Platforms’ META.O Facebook and Instagram, along with Mastodon, Truth…
18 Dec 2022 2PM 1 min