Ever since Western Countries cut the supply of military hardware to Zimbabwe 20 years ago, following sanctions imposed against the country’s negative human rights record under Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe has been struggling to bolster its arsenal. At the time, Zimbabwe was recovering from a hardware deficit following its 1998 military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) war.
The economic and human rights abuse crises reached their peak during 2008 due to Mugabe’s money-printing activity, which ignited severe hyperinflation. Although the government provided multiple excuses throughout the decades, like the drought, the real problem remains poor governance and in-house corruption. Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe from 1980 to2017 and his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has similar tendencies.
The US first imposed sanctions against Zimbabwe in 2001 bypassing the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA), which referred to sending troops to DRC, the private appropriation of public assets and the fast-track land reform program. In 2018, ZIDERA was amended to address new issues. The updated ZIDERA urged the Zimbabwean government to implement the 2013 constitution, specifically to respect and protect human rights, to account for diamond and mineral revenue, and to enforce the SADC Tribunal’s decisions on human rights and land compensation.
However, the government still fails to account for mineral revenues and perpetuates brutal violations of human rights. During his election campaign in 2017, President Mnangagwa stressed his aspirations to lead a business- friendly policy and restore Zimbabwe’s economy. After being elected, he proved to be incapable of doing any of the above. On the contrary, Mnangagwa’s administration decided to print its own faux money which naturally led to monetary collapse. Politically connected elites have been getting US dollars from the reserve bank and selling them at a profit on the parallel market, pushing down the value of the national currency. Meanwhile, banks in Zimbabwe have no US dollars, South African Rands, or Botswana Pulas currencies, and therefore cannot supply stores with the funds to carry on business activity.
The status quo continues, as does the looting of public resources and raids on bank accounts, with the government and Reserve Bank taking over private citizens’ forex savings. The government holds on to repressive laws and it condones violence by state security agents, protecting known perpetrators of serious violations. Tendai Biti, an opposition MP and former finance minister, complains that life has gone back to colonial times: “I’m washing in a bucket, my friend, as if it is Southern Rhodesia in 1923.”
Nonetheless, on January 10, 2020, Zimbabwe replaced its single-engine J-7 fighter jets procured from China with Russian-made $500 million MiG-29 and MiG-35 aircraft. In return, Zimbabwe mortgaged part of its vast mineral wealth to Moscow, including the Darwendale platinum reserve. The arms deal between the countries is part of their already existing $3 billion joint platinum project in collaboration with Rostec from 2014. The deal is one of many agreements signed during a trip to Zimbabwe by Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, Sergey Lavrov, on March 8, 2018.
Is the upgrade really necessary while, after decades of mismanagement and corruption, Zimbabwe is a wreck? Its economy is crashing, and its people are hungry. In fact, according to the UN World Food Programme, by the first half of 2020, the annual inflation will reach 500%, and about half of the population in Zimbabwe will not be able to provide food. The country is poorer than it has ever been due to its ruler’s greed. Nonetheless, other figures have tried to take advantage of the country’s resources. Among them are neighbouring governments, donors, and foreign stakeholders.
Over the past decade, Eastern European countries have filled in the gap left by the West. Zimbabwe- Russian trade reached its peak during 2017-2019. In 2019, the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, together with over 40 other African leaders flew to Russia in hopes of taking better advantage of the newly established cycle. According to the Russian Government, over the first five months of 2019, Russia-Zimbabwe trade rose 9.5% year-on-year to US$18,5 million. Trade-in 2018 stood at US$45,9 million, down 13.6% from the previous year.
Many businessmen from Eastern Europe have been trying to take a bite of the increasingly flourishing commercial interest of Zimbabwe in Russia. One of them, a very significant connecting link between Zimbabwe and Eastern European countries, is the Belarusian businessman Alexander Zingman. Zingman can be seen a lot on the media at events with multiple figures of Africa’s political elite. Including Zambian President Edgar Lungu, Zimbabwe Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Perence Shiri, Zimbabwe Press& Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, George Charamba and others.
Zingman has an impressive track record of brokering several deals in Tanzania and Chad with his partner Witold Karczewski, Vice Chairman of the Polish Chamber of Commerce. Starting in 2017, he has been involved in many of the military purchases between Zimbabwe and other African countries with Belarus and the Russian defence industry, which has been under US sanctions in recent years. His business activity is focused on agriculture equipment, trade of arms, and military equipment.
Alexander Zingman is tied with a network of powerful people, both in East Europe and in the African Continent. One of his closest friends is, in fact, the President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa. Other than brokering deals between Mnangagwa and officials from Russia and Belarus, Zingman is often invited to Mnangagwa’s house to spend time with the family. Zingman is also in contact with the President’s son Emmerson Mnangagwa Junior, who has been involved in his father’s business with Zingman.
On March 3rd, 2018, Zimbabwe Vice President, Constantino Chiwenga, signed $68 million worth of deals as a part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for economic development and trade with Belarus Chief of Presidential Affairs, Victor Sheiman. Open-source media photos reveal that Zingman accompanied the delegation of Belarus. Zingman was among the figures that surrounded Sheiman and Mnangagwa, both sanctioned by OFAC. On March 29, 2018, a Zimbabwe delegation visited Russia’s Ulan-Ude Aviation Factory, a part of the Russian Helicopters group, to view the VIP modification of Mi-171E helicopters. According to the Factory Managing Director, Leonid Belych, the Zimbabwean guests, and the factory’s authorities, have discussed the terms of prospective sales contracts. Following these meetings, on May 2018, Alexander Zingman finalized a deal with Zimbabwe regarding a sell of two Mil Mi-17 helicopters through the company STAR Strategic Assets III LP.
It was not long before the three met again on September 12, 2018, after swearing in John Chamunorwa Mangwiro as Deputy Minister of Health. President Emmerson Mnangagwa hosted Sheiman and Zingman at State House in Harare for two days. Sheiman and Zingman, who arrived to follow up on several investment deals between the countries, presented Mnangagwa with a birthday gift of a sword inscribed his name and his popular slogan “Pasi neMhandu.” On November 2018, Zingman met with the Chief of Russian Helicopter Company “Baginski”, Andrei Ivanovich Boginsky.
On January 17, 2019, Mnangagwa took part in the opening ceremony of the Zimbabwe consulate’s office in Minsk, Belarus, and admitted Alexander Zingman as Zimbabwe’s Honorary Consul in Belarus. At the end of the ceremony, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, invited the guests for an official lunch in honour of the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Among the participants were Zimbabwean Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Perence Shiri, Press Secretary in the Office of the President of Zimbabwe George Charamba, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei and others.
In the same month of Zingman’s appointment, Zimbabwe replaced its single-engine J-7 fighter jets with the MiG-29 and MiG-35 aircrafts. The above sequence of events draws the conclusion that there is a high probability that Zingman was behind this purchase as well. If so, was Mnangagwa appointing him in order to protect his own activities and expand his manoeuvre range?
The thought of the splurge in upgrading the presidential aircraft while Zimbabwe suffers from hunger is a slap in the face for the country’s population. This goes to show that the leader of Zimbabwe still trades the country’s natural resources, and perhaps even distributes generous payments to his middleman, Alexander Zingman, while his nation starves to death.
Post published in: Business
Jordan Rothman is a partner of 
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of