Zimbabwe politicians welcome suspended sanctions plans "Sanctions were the West's best gift to Zanu PF," he said. However we should remember why the sanctions were imposed in the first place and that some of those crimes continue. Zanu PF politicians also welcomed the move, saying it would give succour to "ordinary Zimbabweans." Jonathan Moyo, Mr Mugabe's former Information Minister and a member of the Zanu PF Politburo, said the "evil and illegal" sanctions "should never have been imposed in the first place." But he said that the threat to reinstate them was "patronising." "It's very destabilising to say 'We are holding a big axe over your head if you don't run elections in a way that's acceptable to us' because it will be used by some political parties to get what they want," he said. It will create a situation where it's heads, MDC wins and tails, MDC wins. If the Europeans want to help us, they must leave us to run our own affairs - we don't need to be treated like naughty children rewarded with sweets. It's a very patronising attitude. Didymus Mutasa, Zanu PF's Secretary General and Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, said the suspension of sanctions would make little difference to the ruling class. "It makes no difference to me whatsoever," he told The Telegraph. We have been telling the British for years that the people they targeted are not being adversely affected by sanctions at all. We are still receiving our salaries and the situation for us is exactly the same. The people who are being affected are those who benefited from the industries that could not function under sanctions. We are happy only that our people will be happier. Ian Makone, Morgan Tsvangirai's chief of staff, said they would wait to see the evidence of the suspension. "We have so far been unable to find out from the EU anything about this, (sanctions) and until we are able to do so, we cannot comment," he said.