Can he Trump America’s policy on Zim?
I do not expect anything from American presidents, including Trump, yet Zimbabwe could look for opportunities in a promisingly less meddlesome administration — including making some key concessions.
LET me state from the onset that I do not expect anything from the presidents of the United States of America — or any other country for that matter — because they do not owe us a living.
The voters of those countries legitimately hold expectations which are either fulfilled or otherwise.
Yet we cannot afford the luxury of ignoring America, the world’s “only” superpower.
America is the mightiest on the face of the earth.
It is also the meanest, and probably evil: a grotesque creature of massive power that is admired and hated in equal measure.
That is how America comes to affect us all by its hard and soft power, whether we like it or not.
This is the precise reason why last year’s elections, like many others before, captivated the world, culminating in the now mint-fresh presidency of one Donald John Trump, the 45th US President.
Barack Hussein Obama, the first black president, is gone after eight years at the helm.
The two men appear as though they descended from separate planets.
Obama enjoyed an almost flattering global approval, thanks to his skin colour and his image as a pop star president with what many considered to be good oratory skills. He is a smooth devil. His successor, Trump, on the other hand is seen a roaring lion without any suavity or tact; with little grace and almost crude.
Which explains why there are a lot of tears for Obama when he left the scene, paving way for the Trump era.
But some of us neither shed a tear for Obama nor ululate for Trump. They are just American presidents. That hackneyed phrase says the office of the president of the United States is a “straitjacket”.
And soon enough, we will see what becomes of Trump and what becomes of the world with Trump at the helm of the world’s most powerful nation.
The anxiety of the world is understandable.
Trump is a maverick businessman-cum-politician.
Some people have worried that one bad day he is going to just lay hands on the nuclear arsenal and blow up the world — himself included.
That is a reason why some people say that he should never have had the nuke codes in the first place.
Many of these stories about Trump’s ineptitude for the world’s highest office are plain stupid and unbelievable.
However, he has also gone to stupid and unbelievable depths, especially with his insults on minority racial groups.
So the world has been looking for signs. Africa is no exception.
For a continent that fathered Obama, and expected so much of him, getting precious little from him in the process, many people looked for signs. Trump gave none. Absolutely nothing! His speech totally “ignored” Africa and many people were left groping for what he implied through such an abstract reference as “We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world . . .” which is about the closest he came to defining foreign policy with the (smaller, insignificant) rest of the world.
Contrast this with Obama’s inaugural speech as president in 2009 with these nuggets: “To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silenc- ing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
I know many in the opposition and opposition-leaning civil society that were sorely disappointed by the fact that Trump did not say anything that they could cling to as an assurance that America would continue to seek regime change in Zimbabwe.
The whole opposition and civil society in Zimbabwe, appeared as though they were members of the Democratic Party in America and had wanted Hilary Clinton to win against Trump.
(Think of a Tendai Biti and his wish of “entering” — forgive my translation — if Clinton won.)
And because it did not go this way and Trump hasn’t come any close to pronouncing himself on Zimbabwe, the civil society and opposition in Zimba- bwe are significantly sobered.
Much worse, some people are seeing their livelihoods shattered under the new administration — and this may even start with America’s envoy here, one Harry Thomas Jnr, an Obama appointee. The coming days will be interesting. The Democrats, Obama-loving opposition figures are trying to live the life after love, if we can parody that popular song.
But they will be expected to make overtures to the new masters, who are not just inward looking with the “America-first” focus, but have so far exhibited something like disdain for the previous administrations’ foreign policy priorities. An illustration will suffice. The Newsweek magazine recently published a piece entitled, “Finally, some insight on what Donald Trump’s team thinks about Africa”.
In it, the administration’s transition team is cited as presenting a set of probing questions to the State Department, betraying a hell lot of cynicism.
Newsweek cites, “a four-page list of questions on US policy in Africa, submitted by Donald Trump’s transition team to the State Department, (which) has indicated a possible scepticism about the country’s counter-terrorism policy in Africa, and also raises questions about the continuation of aid programmes.”
“The questions reported by the New York Times provide the first substantial indication of how Trump’s team sees US-Africa policy changing over the next four years,” opines Newsweek.
The major areas to see change include, security and counter-terrorism in Africa; foreign aid and trade (“With so much corruption in Africa, how much of our funding is stolen?” the team asked the State Department.); and Chinese influence on the continent relative to America.
Concludes Newsweek: “Overall, the questions indicate that a Trump administration will not view Africa as a foreign policy priority.”
So what does Trump mean for Zimbabwe?
One colleague working at the Embassy confided that while they were devastated by Clinton losing the presidential election, the Trump’s triumph could be positive for Zimbabwe.
“Republicans are more business-minded than Democrats and they are easy to deal with,” was the surmise.
There is a window of opportunity which Government and Zanu-PF could take to steer away from Obama’s poisonous regime.
Never mind that he inherited a hostile policy from George W Bush, a Republican. But Trump is not Bush. I have said from the onset, I do not expect anything from American presidents, including Trump, yet Zimbabwe could look for opportunities in a promisingly less meddlesome administration — including making some key concessions.
It is a myth that the US does not have interests or priorities in Zimbabwe, an economic and geopolitical player in Southern Africa, otherwise they would not be building a multi-million-dollar monster embassy in Harare’s Westgate area.
The Trump era somewhat smells remotely of a change of needful tact.
It may even begin by a positively less meddlesome, pragmatic and business-like approach that we have seen Britain adopt under the Conservatives.