Chamisa’s roller coaster politics
EDITOR — MDC-T leader, Nelson Chamisa, is learning the hard way that “good ideas sell themselves” as the United Kingdom (UK) trip bears shambolic and humiliating real life experiences for the ‘youthful’ opposition leader. The trip turned out to be a nightmare as Chamisa’s interview with the BBC exposed his overexcitement and immature politics, to mention but a few of his shortfalls.
Locally, there had been an outcry over his unrealistic and unattainable promises and as is the norm he did not heed the call to climb down from ‘Alice’s Dreamland’. It had to take BBC’s HardTalk anchor, Steven Sackur, to teach Chamisa a lesson that ‘ direction is more important than speed’. Indeed Chamisa has been moving fast but going nowhere at the same time.
Chamisa endured the gruelling 24 minutes of grilling at the hands of the unapologetic Sackur. Not that Chamisa was being asked anything out of this world, but the interview has been all about what he has been saying ever since taking over from the late Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
The rude awakening for Chamisa was marked by Sucker’s rubbishing of claims that he would solve the country’s cash crisis in ‘two weeks’. There were no loud cheers as usual to this unrealistic claim as Sucker tore into it and described it as ‘nonsensical’ before simplifying it as typical ‘Alice in Wonderland.’
Perhaps Chamisa should have talked about roller coasters and not the bullet trains since his arguments have literary taken him nowhere, but right where he started. His overzealousness drove him right into the middle of diplomatic offensiveness, bruising even the ego of the British along the way. First he threatened to sake the Chinese from Zimbabwe, a threat he went on to reject saying he never made such utterances. He also accused the British of taking sides with the Zimbabwean Government. Unbeknown to Chamisa, Britain prides itself with the state of its former colonies. The only person they did not like was former President, Robert Mugabe and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Sibusiso Moyo, has done a great job in assuring the international community that all is well now. Zimbabwe’s new dispensation has undoubtedly impressed the British as overtures by President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to right the wrongs of the previous administration have proved reasonable than the spaghetti roads, bullet trains and airports at every Zimbabwean’s doorstep. As the forthcoming general elections draw closer, Zimbabweans ought to pay attention to detail and ponder on the next best move to better our beloved country. Individual and sectional politics should come after developmental initiatives. Smear campaigns and sending of negative signals about the state of affairs in Zimbabwe should belong to Stone Age politics and should never be afforded a chance to stand in the way of development and the journey towards the standardisation of Zimbabwe. Ca i t l i n Kamba