115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2779 

AN ACT 

To amend the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery 

Act of 2001. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Zimbabwe Democracy 

3 and Economic Recovery Amendment Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. RECONSTRUCTION AND REBUILDING OF 

5 ZIMBABWE. 

6 Section 2 of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 

7 Recovery Act of 2001 (22 U.S.C. 2151 note; Public Law 

8 107–99) is amended by striking ‘‘and restore the rule of 

9 law’’ and inserting ‘‘restore the rule of law, reconstruct 

10 and rebuild Zimbabwe, and come to terms with the past 

11 through a process of genuine reconciliation that acknowl12 edges past human rights abuses and orders inquiries into 

13 disappearances, including the disappearance of human 

14 rights activists, such as Patrick Nabanyama, Itai 

15 Dzamara, and Paul Chizuze’’. 

16 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

17 Section 4(a) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Eco18 nomic Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 

19 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘costly deploy20 ment of troops to the Democratic Republic of the 

21 Congo’’ and inserting ‘‘private appropriation of pub22 lic assets’’; and 

23 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(6) In October 2016, the Government of 

25 Zimbabwe cleared a small hurdle in its longstanding 

26 public sector arrears with the IMF.’’. 
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1 SEC. 4. PROVISIONS RELATED TO MULTILATERAL DEBT RE2 LIEF AND OTHER FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. 

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

4 Economic Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 

5 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘to pro6 pose that the bank should undertake a review of the 

7 feasibility of restructuring, rescheduling, or elimi8 nating the sovereign debt of Zimbabwe held by that 

9 bank’’ and inserting ‘‘to support efforts to reevalu10 ate plans to restructure, rebuild, reschedule, or 

11 eliminate Zimbabwe’s sovereign debt held by that 

12 bank and provide an analysis based on reasonable fi13 nancial options to achieve those goals’’; and 

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

15 and inserting ‘‘currency’’. 

16 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE UNITED STATES17 ZIMBABWE BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP. 

18 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 

19 should seek to forge a stronger bilateral relationship with 

20 Zimbabwe, including in the areas of trade and investment, 

21 if the following conditions are satisfied: 

22 (1) The Government of Zimbabwe takes the 

23 concrete, tangible steps outlined in paragraphs (1) 

24 through (4) of section 4(d) of the Zimbabwe Democ25 racy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, as amend26 ed by section 6 of this Act. 
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1 (2) The Government of Zimbabwe takes con2 crete, tangible steps towards— 

3 (A) good governance, including respect for 

4 the opposition, rule of law, and human rights; 

5 (B) economic reforms that promote 

6 growth, address unemployment and under7 development, restore livelihoods, ensure respect 

8 for contracts and private property rights, and 

9 promote significant progress toward monetary 

10 policy reforms, particularly with the Reserve 

11 Bank of Zimbabwe, and currency exchange re12 forms; and 

13 (C) identification and recovery of stolen 

14 private and public assets within Zimbabwe and 

15 in other countries. 

16 (3) The Government of Zimbabwe holds an 

17 election that is widely accepted as free and fair, 

18 based on the following pre- and post-election criteria 

19 or conditions: 

20 (A) Establishment and public release, with21 out cost, of a provisional and a final voter reg22 istration roll. 

23 (B) The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission 

24 is permitted to entirely carry out the functions 

25 assigned to it under section 239 of Zimbabwe’s 
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1 2013 Constitution in an independent manner, 

2 and the chairperson meets and consults regu3 larly with representatives of political parties 

4 represented in the parliament of Zimbabwe and 

5 the parties contesting the elections. 

6 (C) Consistent with Zimbabwe’s 2013 Con7 stitution, the Defence Forces of Zimbabwe— 

8 (i) are neither permitted to actively 

9 participate in campaigning for any can10 didate nor to intimidate voters; 

11 (ii) are required to verifiably and 

12 credibly uphold their constitutionally-man13 dated duty to respect the fundamental 

14 rights and freedoms of all persons and to 

15 be nonpartisan in character; and 

16 (iii) are not permitted to print, trans17 fer, or control ballots or transmit the re18 sults of elections. 

19 (D) International observers, including ob20 servers from the United States, the African 

21 Union, the Southern African Development Com22 munity, and the European Union— 

23 (i) are permitted to observe the entire 

24 electoral process prior to, on, and following 
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1 voting day, including by monitoring polling 

2 stations and tabulation centers; and 

3 (ii) are able to independently access 

4 and analyze vote tallying tabulation and 

5 the transmission and content of voting re6 sults. 

7 (E) Candidates are allowed access to pub8 lic broadcasting media during the election pe9 riod, consistent with Zimbabwe’s Electoral Act 

10 and are able to campaign in an environment 

11 that is free from intimidation and violence. 

12 (F) Civil society organizations are able to 

13 freely and independently carry out voter and 

14 civic education and monitor the entire electoral 

15 process, including by observing, recording, and 

16 transmitting publicly-posted or announced vot17 ing results at the ward, constituency, and all 

18 higher levels of the vote tallying process. 

19 (4) Laws enacted prior to the passage of 

20 Zimbabwe’s March 2013 Constitution that are in21 consistent with the new Constitution are amended, 

22 repealed, or subjected to a formal process for review 

23 and correction so that such laws are consistent with 

24 the new Constitution. 

25 (5) The Government of Zimbabwe— 
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1 (A) has made significant progress on the 

2 implementation of all elements of the new Con3 stitution; and 

4 (B) has demonstrated its commitment to 

5 sustain such efforts in achieving full implemen6 tation of the new Constitution. 

7 (6) Traditional leaders of Zimbabwe observe 

8 section 281 of the 2013 Constitution and are not 

9 using humanitarian assistance provided by outside 

10 donor organizations or countries in a politicized 

11 manner to intimidate or pressure voters during the 

12 campaign period. 

13 SEC. 6. CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS. 

14 Section 4(d) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Eco15 nomic Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘consistent 

17 with’’ and all that follows through ‘‘September 

18 1998’’; 

19 (2) by striking paragraph (4); and 

20 (3) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para21 graph (4). 

22 SEC. 7. REMOVAL OF AUTHORITY TO PAY LAND ACQUISI23 TION COSTS. 

24 Section 5(a) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Eco25 nomic Recovery Act of 2001 is amended— 
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1 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘, including 

2 the payment of costs’’ and all that follows through 

3 ‘‘thereto; and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

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

5 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

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

8 SEC. 8. INCLUSION OF AUSTRALIA, THE UNITED KINGDOM, 

9 THE AFRICAN UNION, AND THE SOUTHERN 

10 AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY IN 

11 CONSULTATIONS ABOUT ZIMBABWE. 

12 Section 6 of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 

13 Recovery Act of 2001 is amended by inserting ‘‘Australia, 

14 the United Kingdom, the African Union, the Southern Af15 rican Development Community,’’ after ‘‘Canada,’’. 

16 SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ENFORCEMENT OF 

17 SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMU18 NITY TRIBUNAL RULINGS. 

19 It is the sense of Congress that the Government of 

20 Zimbabwe and the Southern African Development Com21 munity (referred to in this section as ‘‘SADC’’) should en22 force the SADC tribunal rulings issued between 2007 to 

23 2010, including 18 disputes involving employment, com24 mercial, and human rights cases surrounding dispossessed 
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1 Zimbabwean commercial farmers and agricultural compa2 nies. 

Passed the Senate July 25, 2018. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2779 

AN ACT 

To amend the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 

Recovery Act of 2001.