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Dr Masimba Mavaza
Correspondent
Election day is fast approaching.
It is again that campaign season.
There is one conclusion we must make; that confidence is the number of times we keep our promises.
If there is no promise kept, then there is no confidence. We all know that person who says they will do something but never gets around to it. Also, the individual who sets new year’s resolutions but never keeps them.
When we cannot keep our promises to ourselves, how do we expect to show up for others? Leadership is all about showing up for the team and making the right decisions.
Whether we like it or not, people hold us accountable for the decisions we make, and we ought to do the same.
Great leaders understand that keeping promises to themselves is vital for their self-confidence. Yet, it is also essential to deliver on the promises you make to others.
President Mnangagwa made promises and we must look and see if he kept his promises. This will be contrasted with promises made by Chamisa.
President Mnangagwa promised Zimbabweans that he was going to embark on re-engagement. He realised that a country can never survive on its on without others.
In his five years in office, President Mnangagwa kept his promise.
Having seen his seriousness and genuineness the world responded. In his first three months in office 2018, The President was invited to Davos Switzerland.
He was ushered into the arena where he descended with confidence.
The re-engagement promise was put in motion. The sky was heated with visits across the country with a sole aim of re-engagement.
The President came with a policy that “Zimbabwe is a friend to all and an enemy to none.”
He engaged each country with no bias. He restored the Zimbabwean hospitality custom.
Leaders who keep their promises boost performance, enhance their credibility, inspire and engage stakeholders, and build trust.
It then follows that those who break promises to constituents lose credibility and trust.
When President Mnangagwa stepped into positions of leadership, he made a set of promises in the form of expectations.
We all expect certain things from our leaders, and these expectations constitute the promise of leadership.
Zimbabwe has taken its place in the international world. We now have several airlines blessing Robert G Mugabe International airport.
In a major step to fulfil the promise of bringing Zimbabwe to a middle economy by 2030, the President has revamped over four airports to standards.
The President found that the motivation to lead tends to be setting the strategy people want to see in the country.
Once in a leadership role, one has the power to shape the country the way they want to.
When we focus on the promises we make, we build an organisation of trust. As a leader, your starting point must be the promises you make to your team.
On the other hand, Chamisa made several promises.
He promised to make Zimbabwe a democratic well developed country.
He made promises which are meant to be kept. He failed dismally in his own party; he trashed democracy and destroyed all rights as they are known.
Chamisa has become the first man to take a party into an election without a constitution.
He dragged his party back into Stone Age.
He dismantled the democratic tentacles set by Tsvangirai and replaced them with his despotic dictatorial party CCC. It automatically took a near rotten clout of yellow. In his first step to elections he broke his promise. Such a leader should not be trusted and thus not to be voted into power.
Keeping promises is one of those playground skills that follows us right through our lives, into our offices.
As we get older, we may not seal our promises with our fingers anymore, but they do still hold a lot of weight and there’s often a lot of hurt when those promises are broken.
CCC has proved to be seriously bankrupt in promises. Surely we cannot vote for those who have not kept the promises.
Chamisa promised to bring the development; we need to look no further than our towns he has been running for years. He has reduced our towns to villages and yet he is promising to make Zimbabwe a better country.
On the other hand, President Mnangagwa promised development.
In his first five years he touched dead projects and injected them to life.
He rehabilitated all our major roads. Harare Masvingo road has now re-claimed its original name Masvingo ne carpet. Harare Bulawayo Road has taken shape and travelling has truly become a luxury.
Water shortages has been nipped in the bud. ED has fixed the broken pieces.
He has kept his promise. Zimbabwe has constructed many dams in five years and this will improve accessibility of water by communities.
Democracy is a government by discussion and discussion pre-supposes arguments and counter arguments. Parliamentary democracy as considered to be the best tone or government because in this system, there is scope for the people to reflect their wishes and grievances through their elected representatives on the floor of the House. Parliamentary form of government is a method of arguments, discussion and decision of the majority and of accepting the majority decision providing for the right of the individual to hold a different view.
Here all points of views are expressed and discussed. As there could be afterwards at least two sets of views on any subject. To that end, President Mnangagwa ran a successful primary election while Chamisa ordained himself to be the holy one and tricked his members into participating in a mediaeval ritual a mockery of democracy by imposing his cronies.
This was done in a process which he himself could explain.
Chamisa eliminated those he regarded as threat failed to help Job Sikhala and kicked out Biti.
Now he has assembled his hand-picked team and want people to believe that this is democracy.
This classic failure to keep promises by Chamisa is a strong warning to us to vote with our eyes open. You must never vote for an undemocratic party.
President Mnangagwa promised to tackle the electricity problems and true to his word, load shedding is recoiling back to its shell.
We now have electricity for all and we will have full restoration soon.
This was another promise kept. President Mnangagwa has shown expressed expectations for certain outcomes that come with the role of the leader and that shows up in the leader’s job description (things like fiscal responsibility, accountability, strategy and execution); all these decorate the achievements of Cde Mnangagwa.
He even achieved the unspoken expectations that stakeholders have of their leaders (things like competence, fair treatment, commitment, engagement, listening, acting on suggestions, and providing meaning and direction).
The President has always been a listening leader. That was a fulfilled promise.
Chamisa and the CCC want to be liked by their supporters so they make promises to seem amiable and approachable and then fail to keep the promises.
Listening to what Chamisa says in his speeches, it is clear that he just want to wrap up conversations, so agree to make things happen without thinking deeply about what that means.
This include absurd promises of bullet trains and spaghetti roads. He promised to build airports for tomatoes and agricultural transportation.
He forgets that he has poor grasp on the resources available to him so he makes promises that cannot ever be realistically delivered upon.
This can never be allowed to be a leader of our country.
The consequences for broken and empty promises can last much longer than you would think. So do not allow a promise breaker to confuse you on what he promises which he has no clue on how to deal with it.
Chamisa has built his campaign with lack of trust — if you do not do what you say you will, how can your country trust you to do it in the future?
If breaking promises is a regular occurrence — intentionally or not — there is a good chance that your team has already lost their trust in you as a leader.
So it is true that Chamisa is not the real person he wants people to believe he is.
With his lack of respect and breaking promises, Chamisa has shown that he does not respect the people of Zimbabwe and in turn, they have lost respect for him as a leader.
Respect is a two-way street and breaking promises is a sure- way to lose that respect.
Frustration — more than anything else, a broken promise means that something has not been done.
It means more following up, last-minute workarounds and deadlines being missed. It is frustrating for everyone involved. So Zimbabwe must not be dragged in a pool of disappointments.
Now as we make final decisions on whom to vote for, look at the developments President Mnangagwa has achieved.
Look at the promises kept.
President Mnangagwa has shown that he is the proper candidate to be at the State House.
He deserves your vote and he must be allowed to go and finish the good work he started.
Your vote is the key to happiness. Vote ZANU PF and see your dream come true.
Online Reporter