Carole and I just finished a wonderful two-year sabbatical. We are now happy new parents to Daniel our first-born child! Having a child in middle age is really an exciting experience! I was planning and going back to work this Spring, but the Coronavirus has delayed my travel plans. I was recently working on stories of corruption and political developments in Africa to further the research I completed over the past 5 years on countries in Africa and South East Asia. You can read some of my past articles on the ‘Justin’s Articles’ link on this website.
I had decided to pursue the work we had started in Africa especially in Mali and Algeria. We are now focusing on Zimbabwe, a country that is still emerging difficulty from the shadows on the Mugabe regime. Zimbabwe is still rife with corruption and suffering from US Sanctions while Canada is still maintaining sanctions under the Special Economic Measures Act (Zimbabwe) Regulations established in 2008. . These measures ‘prohibit arms trading with Zimbabwe and impose sanctions against listed Zimbabweans and entities’. According to the Canadian Embassy in Harare “the measures will remain in place until there are positive shifts in Zimbabwean policy that result in improvements in human rights, democracy, freedom and the rule of law.” The only problem with this is that the same time Canadian mining companies are very involved in the mining sector in Zimbabwe. Some of these companies’ senior executives have developed business relationships with some of the key people currently under US and Canadian sanctions and are flagrantly breaking Canadian (and US) sanctions. Not surprising considering Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s dismal policy failures in Mali. Trade between Canada and Zimbabwe in 2018 was supposedly less than $18 Million CAD. A paltry sum considering the wealth of mineral resources in Zimbabwe.
Due to the coronavirus I will not be able to travel to Africa anytime soon. This has given me the opportunity to have recently connect with some of Africa’s leading journalists and collaborate with them on an upcoming investigative article I am writing on Zimbabwe. I will keep all of you posted on this upcoming news and hope that all of you will remain healthy and safe during this era of the coronavirus!
-JC