Chronicle Editor
Obi Egbuna Jnr Simunye
FOR Mother Africa’s children living in 125 countries who consider self-determination and sovereignty cardinal principles never to be compromised, the recent victory of US President-elect Donald Trump sends a bold and emphatic statement that will arguably test our people’s collective fighting spirit like never before.
Throughout our history facing political challenges of epic proportion forces us to look to our bravest and visionary fighters, because of the wealth of their knowledge base and experience, which based on the current circumstances should propel Africans everywhere to enthusiastically turn towards President Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe.
Because the US-EU imperialist media and propaganda apparatus has consistently mocked the length of President Mugabe’s tenure in office, for the purpose of suggesting democracy in Zimbabwe is virtually non-existent, only those Africans who are intimidated by our former colonial and slave masters attempt to bully us with the languages they forced down the throats of our ancestors will accept this ludicrous and outdated narrative.
The reality of Trump’s ascension to power provides President Mugabe individually and Zimbabwe’s leadership collectively, a golden opportunity to reflect on the past, contextualise the present, while they are planning the future. This political blessing is an option at President Mugabe’s disposal, because since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 he has watched five US presidents and nine British prime ministers come and go.
It is a matter of public record whenever reporters and journalists interviewed Commandante Fidel Castro when visiting Cuba, they often asked him to compare every US president from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, another trailblazer in the struggle against global imperialism, always afforded this courtesy was our Palestinian brother and comrade Yasser Arafat, who often fielded questions concerning the barbarism of Zionist leaders from Levi Eshkel to Ariel Sharon representing the timespan of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to his untimely and mysterious death in 2004.
For so-called African Americans who heard President Obama say while addressing the Congressional Black Caucus gala for the final time state he would “consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election you want to give me a good send off? Go vote”.
Since showboating on platforms when speaking publicly is perhaps President Obama’s most recognisable attribute, the question Africans worldwide must pose to him is shouldn’t President Mugabe consider it an insult to his legacy, that the first US president of African ancestry extended US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe each of his eight years in office and worked tirelessly for an illegal racist regime change in Zimbabwe?
This blemish on Obama’s record and legacy could very well be the reason why he was afraid to meet with President Mugabe during his eight years in office, because while no one can refute his mastery of the language spoken by those who colonised his biological father’s homeland in Kenya, there are no words in the English language that could have helped President Obama explain to President Mugabe face to face why he felt compelled and obligated to work for Zimbabwe’s political and economic demise.
What Obama forgot is he was not only preaching to the converted but the CBC members in attendance with the exception of Congressman James Clyburn all voted for Mrs Clinton in the 2008 Democratic Primary instead of someone who was their reflection in the mirror. These circus-like dynamics did not fool President Mugabe and Zanu-PF because when it came to maintaining US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe, President Bush, President Obama, Mrs Clinton – who like Vice President Joseph Biden – has the distinction of being a co-sponsor of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act were without question comrades in arms.
The disgusting image of late CBC alum Congressman Donald Payne and his Republican counterpart Christopher Smith both representing the state of New Jersey, dancing hand in hand down the hallways of Capitol Hill, encouraging their colleagues to help President Bush oust President Mugabe and Zanu-PF from power doesn’t make US policy on Zimbabwe any more acceptable.
When President Obama and President-elect Trump meet in the White House for the first time and begin the process of putting together a transition team, it is completely safe to arrive at the conclusion that Mr Trump will not make any sincere attempt to either ruffle President Obama’s feathers or pin him against the wall concerning regime change in Zimbabwe. However, if Mr Trump had what our Christian sisters and brothers call a divine revelation and decided to challenge President Obama on Zimbabwe behind closed doors the response would be predictable and rather insult- ing.
Another aspect of President-elect Trump’s upset is that President Mugabe and Zanu-PF might be laughing hysterically about US imperialism’s resistance to change, meaning at the same time their political leadership takes pride in lecturing Africa Asia the Caribbean and Latin America on human rights and democracy, they lack the courage and fortitude to elect a woman to the highest office of the land.
For our ancestors who remember the colonialists propagating the notion that invading raping and plundering our sacred land was done for the purpose of civilising us, or endured slave masters who kidnapped and brought us to foreign shores on slave ships named in honour of Jesus Christ, we can tell them that the people whom they still consider animalistic and sub-human elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to the presidency of Liberia.
This means even Africans who are devout neo-colonialists have been provided with an unprecedented and rather unique opportunity to tell their masters to practise what they preach. Unfortunately, because a lack of commitment to decolonisation that will more than likely not take advantage.
If the former Vice President of Zimbabwe Joice Mujuru had not let her quest for fame and gross opportunism affect her better judgment, it is not far-fetched the people of Zimbabwe might have arrived at the conclusion, because of courage and loyalty she would someday make a good President. Tragically when Zimbabwe needed her the most she decided personal ambition took precedence of the needs of the nation.
What President-elect Trump has to decide is how he approaches the question of Zimbabwe is whether his options are Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan. If he opts for a pragmatic and prudent approach that defines the sentiments of both President Carter and Margaret Thatcher during the Lancaster House negotiations in 1979, this would enable President-elect Trump to do something in the field of diplomacy on the level of when Richard Nixon normalised relations with China.
Unfortunately, Carter left Zimbabwe for dead and never fought to honour his promises to President Mugabe and late Vice President and national hero Joshua Nkomo, while on the other hand Reagan, though brutally direct, looked President Mugabe in the face and told him he had absolutely no intention of honouring an agreement that he no part in negotiating.
The question is how President-elect Trump sees President Mugabe, when Carter and Thatcher engaged him they were both awestruck by his superior intellect, in Reagan’s case he saw President Mugabe and Zanu-PF as an extension of the Black Panthers he worked vehemently to destroy when he was the Governor of California.
Whether President-elect Trump is advised to be true to the mantra of US-EU imperialism or lets his business acumen take over the battle to defend Zimbabwe’s sovereignty continues. May the so-called African American hypocrites who were silent during Obama’s eight years in office but all of a sudden may decide to mention Zimbabwe tread carefully, for President Mugabe and Zanu-PF were not born yesterday.
Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US correspondent to The Herald and the External Relations Officer of the Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association (Zicufa). His email is [email protected]
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