S. 2779 

One Hundred Fifteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen 

An Act 

To amend the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Amendment Act of 2018’’. 

SEC. 2. RECONSTRUCTION AND REBUILDING OF ZIMBABWE. 

Section 2 of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery 

Act of 2001 (22 U.S.C. 2151 note; Public Law 107–99) is amended 

by striking ‘‘and restore the rule of law’’ and inserting ‘‘restore 

the rule of law, reconstruct and rebuild Zimbabwe, and come to 

terms with the past through a process of genuine reconciliation 

that acknowledges past human rights abuses and orders inquiries 

into disappearances, including the disappearance of human rights 

activists, such as Patrick Nabanyama, Itai Dzamara, and Paul 

Chizuze’’. 

SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

Section 4(a) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 

Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘costly deployment of 

troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’’ and inserting 

‘‘private appropriation of public assets’’; and 

(2) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(6) In October 2016, the Government of Zimbabwe cleared 

a small hurdle in its longstanding public sector arrears with 

the IMF.’’. 

SEC. 4. PROVISIONS RELATED TO MULTILATERAL DEBT RELIEF AND 

OTHER FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. 

Section 4(b)(2) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 

Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 

(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘to propose that the 

bank should undertake a review of the feasibility of restructuring, rescheduling, or eliminating the sovereign debt of 

Zimbabwe held by that bank’’ and inserting ‘‘to support efforts 

to reevaluate plans to restructure, rebuild, reschedule, or eliminate Zimbabwe’s sovereign debt held by that bank and provide 

an analysis based on reasonable financial options to achieve 

those goals’’; and 

(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘dollar’’ and inserting 

‘‘currency’’. 
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SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE UNITED STATES-ZIMBABWE 

BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP. 

It is the sense of Congress that the United States should 

seek to forge a stronger bilateral relationship with Zimbabwe, 

including in the areas of trade and investment, if the following 

conditions are satisfied: 

(1) The Government of Zimbabwe takes the concrete, tangible steps outlined in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 

4(d) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act 

of 2001, as amended by section 6 of this Act. 

(2) The Government of Zimbabwe takes concrete, tangible 

steps towards— 

(A) good governance, including respect for the opposition, rule of law, and human rights; 

(B) economic reforms that promote growth, address 

unemployment and underdevelopment, restore livelihoods, 

ensure respect for contracts and private property rights, 

and promote significant progress toward monetary policy 

reforms, particularly with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, 

and currency exchange reforms; and 

(C) identification and recovery of stolen private and 

public assets within Zimbabwe and in other countries. 

(3) The Government of Zimbabwe holds an election that 

is widely accepted as free and fair, based on the following 

pre- and post-election criteria or conditions: 

(A) Establishment and public release, without cost, 

of a provisional and a final voter registration roll. 

(B) The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is permitted 

to entirely carry out the functions assigned to it under 

section 239 of Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution in an independent manner, and the chairperson meets and consults 

regularly with representatives of political parties represented in the parliament of Zimbabwe and the parties 

contesting the elections. 

(C) Consistent with Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution, the 

Defence Forces of Zimbabwe— 

(i) are neither permitted to actively participate 

in campaigning for any candidate nor to intimidate 

voters; 

(ii) are required to verifiably and credibly uphold 

their constitutionally-mandated duty to respect the 

fundamental rights and freedoms of all persons and 

to be nonpartisan in character; and 

(iii) are not permitted to print, transfer, or control 

ballots or transmit the results of elections. 

(D) International observers, including observers from 

the United States, the African Union, the Southern African 

Development Community, and the European Union— 

(i) are permitted to observe the entire electoral 

process prior to, on, and following voting day, including 

by monitoring polling stations and tabulation centers; 

and 

(ii) are able to independently access and analyze 

vote tallying tabulation and the transmission and content of voting results. 

(E) Candidates are allowed access to public broadcasting media during the election period, consistent with 
S. 2779—3 

Zimbabwe’s Electoral Act and are able to campaign in 

an environment that is free from intimidation and violence. 

(F) Civil society organizations are able to freely and 

independently carry out voter and civic education and monitor the entire electoral process, including by observing, 

recording, and transmitting publicly-posted or announced 

voting results at the ward, constituency, and all higher 

levels of the vote tallying process. 

(4) Laws enacted prior to the passage of Zimbabwe’s March 

2013 Constitution that are inconsistent with the new Constitution are amended, repealed, or subjected to a formal process 

for review and correction so that such laws are consistent 

with the new Constitution. 

(5) The Government of Zimbabwe— 

(A) has made significant progress on the implementation of all elements of the new Constitution; and 

(B) has demonstrated its commitment to sustain such 

efforts in achieving full implementation of the new Constitution. 

(6) Traditional leaders of Zimbabwe observe section 281 

of the 2013 Constitution and are not using humanitarian assistance provided by outside donor organizations or countries in 

a politicized manner to intimidate or pressure voters during 

the campaign period. 

SEC. 6. CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS. 

Section 4(d) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 

Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘consistent with’’ and 

all that follows through ‘‘September 1998’’; 

(2) by striking paragraph (4); and 

(3) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (4). 

SEC. 7. REMOVAL OF AUTHORITY TO PAY LAND ACQUISITION COSTS. 

Section 5(a) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 

Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 

(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘, including the payment 

of costs’’ and all that follows through ‘‘thereto; and’’ and 

inserting a semicolon; 

(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end 

and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(4) identify and recover stolen public assets.’’. 

SEC. 8. INCLUSION OF AUSTRALIA, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE AFRICAN UNION, AND THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT 

COMMUNITY IN CONSULTATIONS ABOUT ZIMBABWE. 

Section 6 of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery 

Act of 2001 is amended by inserting ‘‘Australia, the United 

Kingdom, the African Union, the Southern African Development 

Community,’’ after ‘‘Canada,’’. 

SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ENFORCEMENT OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY TRIBUNAL RULINGS. 

It is the sense of Congress that the Government of Zimbabwe 

and the Southern African Development Community (referred to 

in this section as ‘‘SADC’’) should enforce the SADC tribunal rulings 

issued between 2007 to 2010, including 18 disputes involving 
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employment, commercial, and human rights cases surrounding dispossessed Zimbabwean commercial farmers and agricultural companies. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.