Of Statesmen, puny politicians and the 2018 elections
As this year’s harmonised elections draw closer with each sunset, activity on the political landscape is increasing. More political parties, more independent candidates are coming on stream and more donations to the electorate on the ground as each player seeks to gain a competitive edge over opponents. Such is the election season, which someone has aptly described as the silly season. Silly season indeed if the utterances and promises of some opposition players are anything to go by.
The season is some form of a winnowing basket separating the life-sustaining grain from the chaff. It has also exposed how much chaff is stuffed in the brain cavities of some designer suit-wearing so-called politicians among us. The season has also been a time for Zimbabweans to separate political boys from political men and political girls from women. It has been a season that has amply demonstrated the political axiom that statesmen think of future generations while puny politicians think of the next election.
Although over 120 political parties have indicated their intention to participate in the impending elections, most people would agree that when everything has been said and done, the polls are basically between two main political players, Zanu-PF and the MDC Alliance, which is essentially the MDC-T. It is a gruelling duel between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the MDC Alliance/MDC-T presidential election candidate, Nelson Chamisa. The actions and statements of the two politicians have so far demonstrated which candidate is a statesman and who the puny politician is.
Where President Mnangagwa has a plan to revive the economy through industrial growth, infrastructure development and creating a conducive environment for investors to assist in turning the economy around, his opposition counterparts have so far not announced any meaningful policy except for imaginary village airports, bullet trains and hotel-like hospitals.
While any Zimbabwean would welcome such developments, no right thinking citizen would embrace such hare-brained plans before their basic daily challenges such as jobs, shelter and access to healthcare, among others, are addressed.
Fly-by-night politicians think of things they presume will please the people so much that they would vote for them, while statesmen place more value in addressing the people’s anxieties and concerns through investing in solutions that last for generations.
Where Chamisa talks of homestead by homestead airports for the Murewa folk, for which he has no idea of how to fund, President Mnangagwa goes out to meet global powers such as China and Qatar to secure funding for key national projects like the Kunzvi Dam project which will improve rural people’s lives through irrigation projects and bring relief to Harare residents through the provision of a reliable source of water. Put differently, where Chamisa is going around the country making addresses without substance to rented crowds, the President is rolling up his sleeves to work hard for Zimbabwe because his focus is beyond the election. His vision transcends the current generation and his tenure in office because statesmen are not motivated by merely winning an election but by serving their people and changing their lives.
This explains why Chamisa has time for proposing televised debates with the President because he (Chamisa) has all the time for the political childishness. Zimbabwe has stagnated over the past 18 years and President Mnangagwa knows well the onerous task he has to turn the country’s fortunes around. This explains why Politburo member, Cde Victor Matemadanda correctly advised Chamisa to debate with members of his age in the ZANU PF Youth League. Cde Matemadanda aptly likened him to a goat scratching itself on the wall outside the homestead hut where serious family matters are discussed.
Greedy politicians concentrate on initiatives that benefit them while statesmen preoccupy themselves with the greater good of the nation. While President Mnangagwa and his administration are working overtime and in overdrive to re-engage with the international community so that Zimbabwe becomes a member of the global community again, Chamisa and the MDC Alliance, in pursuit of their narrow and selfish interests, also engage their handlers in the West to extend the illegal sanctions imposed on the country back in 2001 to intensify the suffering of innocent Zimbabweans. The rationale behind the evil scheme is to corner Zimbabweans into rising against their own Government, thereby facilitating the opposition to ascend to power through the back door since it does not enjoy the requisite popularity to win a national election.
With only about two months to go, it is time for Zimbabweans to seriously assess different political parties and politicians as well as their promises and vote from an informed point of view. It is all exciting to be told that once voted into office a candidate will ensure that mobile phones are readily available to all including village goats, but these promises do not take the country forward.
It is time that the electorate votes for political parties and candidates with proven track records as some of the promises being given by some politicians betray their serious lack of the basic appreciation of how governments work. For example, the shoddy way that the MDC-T dominated local authorities have been run since 2000 have amply demonstrated the poor calibre of candidates from that party. Instead of serving the people of cities and towns such as Chitungwiza, MDC-T councillors preoccupied themselves with selling residential stands on pieces of land reserved for other purposes such as schools and clinics to the disadvantage of the residents they claim to serve.
In commerce the caveat emptor principle states that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before making a purchase. In the same manner, the electorate should be on the lookout for politicians who are slick of speech but are dangerously lacking in their appreciation of leading and serving the people.