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As MDC-T president Mr Nelson Chamisa tries to extricate himself from a politically taxing series of faux paus or gaffes occasioned by his weekend political stunts in Bulawayo, it becomes opportune to note what the world’s best-selling and widely distributed book, the Bible, counsels.
It says: “Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips”. (Ecclesiastes 10:12).
Zimbabweans know this all too well: the country’s political dustbin is brimful with politicians who wrecked their political careers through sheer reckless talk and irresponsible actions.
While political banter is neither illegal nor unethical especially during the silly season of politics that we currently find ourselves in, Chamisa’s litany of political blunders, which have deeper implications on the efforts of his fledgling political campaign of building a broader political alliance, invites more scrutiny on the political greenhorn who surprisingly considers himself a shoe-in for the highest job in the land.
Notwithstanding debatable issues on “spaghetti roads” and “bullet trains” — which are calculated to be high-sounding enough to drown debate on fundamental economic issues on the country’s debt, re-industrialisation and agricultural reform — Chamisa has ruffled Washington and quite recently, ex-Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) former leader Cde Jabulani Sibanda and the revered Nkomo family.
Most notably, the US Embassy in Harare was forced to issue a statement after the MDC Alliance leader claimed at a rally at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare on January 28 that Washington had promised the opposition party a $15 billion rescue package if it manages to upstage Zanu-PF in this year’s elections.
“When we met with President Trump in America alongside (Mr Tendai) Biti, he asked us how much we needed to move the country forward and we told him that we needed $15 billion,” he told starry-eyed supporters.
Six days later, he embarrassingly sought to blame the media for his utterances, which can also be viewed as a “diplomatic gaffe”.
“Last week, I was misquoted by a number of people (on the US$15 billion claim). We did a report and we realised that we need about $14,9 billion, which we rounded off to US$15 billion, for the country to have proper infrastructure. That is what people did not fully understand . . .
“We have friends who help us in times of need and those are the ones who will help us to raise that money after we win the elections,” he said at a subsequent rally in Chitungwiza on February 4 this year.
The same script was repeated at the weekend rally in Bulawayo where — after unstrategically ambushing Cde Jabulani Sibanda at his home — Mr Chamisa alleged the Nkomo family had offered to give him the late Father Zimbabwe Dr Joshua Nkomo’s sceptre (intonga).
Unsurprisingly, the gaffe, which crossed a cultural red-line and was considered taboo, invited an avalanche of censure from both the Nkomo family and historians to the blissfully naïve politician.
Cde Sibanda was also on his case, especially after Chamisa’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, sought to spin political capital from the visit by insinuating that the war veteran had endorsed the MDC Alliance campaign.
It is simply a huge mess.
By yesterday, Chamisa was battling to put out the fires stoked by his incendiary tongue and, unfortunately, he seemed to have been making it worse by claiming that the Nkomo family was being used by Zanu-PF to call him to order.
Most fundamentally, this invites the question of how someone who is oblivious of diplomatic etiquette can steer the country through the more complex maze of international diplomacy.
It also invites the question of how someone who is not alive to cultural sensitivities can be able to unite the diverse people of this country.
And it also begs the question of how someone who is patently unstrategic can steer the country through the current political and economy challenges .
Judging from Mr Chamisa’s mistakes thus far, statecraft — the skilful management of State affairs — might be too onerous for him.
Had he made a once-off gaffe, then it might have been viewed as a mistake, and if he had repeated the same mistake, it might have been a coincidence. But making such big gaffes more than thrice is a definite pattern.
The Office of the President is not for playing house.
Online Reporter