The empire has struck again.

On March 4, the United States imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa for corruption and serious human rights abuses through the Global Magnitsky Act.

It also sanctioned 10 other individuals, who it designated as “key actors”. They include Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri, Police Commissioner Godwin Matanga, the deputy director general of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), Walter Tapfumaneyi, and several businesspersons who are aligned with the president.

At the same time, US President Joe Biden’s administration also announced the termination of the 2003 Zimbabwe sanctions programme. Moving forward, it explained in a statement, the Biden administration will instead implement “sanctions on clear and specific targets”, such as Mnangagwa and his shifty cronies.

Enacted in December 2016, the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act allows the US executive branch to impose visa restrictions and targeted sanctions on foreign government officials responsible for crimes including extrajudicial killings, torture, and other gross human rights violations or acts of serious corruption.

There is little doubt that Mnangagwa behaved in ways and participated in acts that made him a legitimate target for an act aimed at sanctioning human rights abusers and corrupt political actors.

Mnangagwa is a veteran politician who has held various cabinet posts since Zimbabwe gained its independence from Britain in April 1980. And his many-decades-long political career has been blighted with accusations of sleaze, corruption, illiberal conduct and direct participation in human rights violations from the very beginning.

Just last year, an expose by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) placed Mnangagwa, his spouse, a senior ambassador and various shady businesspersons at the centre of a complex gold-smuggling and money-laundering scheme.

This landmark investigation led the US to conclude “Mnangagwa provides a protective shield to smugglers to operate in Zimbabwe and has directed Zimbabwean officials to facilitate the sale of gold and diamonds in illicit markets, taking bribes in exchange for his services.” His wife, Auxillia, meanwhile, was found to have excelled at “the misappropriation of state assets and corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery”.

And Mnangagwa’s record........

© Al Jazeera