by Prosperity Mzila
“Stop counting the votes” screamed the outgoing United States (US) president, Donald Trump on realising that he was fast losing to the now US president-elect Joe Biden.
He quickly jumped into a denial mode, meant to delegitimise their “democratic electoral process.” This looks and sounds a lot like the 2018 Zimbabwean election, where Trump’s mentee, MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa did exactly what his mentor is currently doing in the USA, “kudira jecha musadza” pouring sand in the porridge.
‘If I can’t have it, no one else will’ is the spirit that gripped both Trump and his misguided student. Trampling of democratic processes is what Trump and his minions are for. However, this time it would prove that Trump in a similar fashion as Chamisa, has stepped on a banana peel.
Long before the election results were announced, Trump took to his tweeter handle @realDonaldTrump, spreading incorrect information, baselessly claiming he had won the election when in fact, that determination was yet to be made. He declared he had won the “popular vote”, telling his followers that “no amount of results manipulation will alter your will”. This is exactly what Chamisa did seemingly reading from Trump’s manual on ‘how to delegitimise an election.’
On the night after the casting of ballots, Chamisa mobilised people to demonstrate against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) claiming that the results had been delayed, hence it would mean that Zanu PF was rigging. Writing on his twitter handle @nelsonchamisa, the embattled MDC Alliance leader said, “Victory is ours! Long winding queues in most parts of Harare.” While his Chairperson Morgan Komichi made an impromptu televised statement at the ZEC, where the election results were being announced, claiming that the results were being rigged and the counting should stop.
Meanwhile, in the USA, Trump has threatened to take the whole issue to the courts claiming that the elections were rigged. However, his own niece Mary Trump has written a piece stating that his uncle Trump is no respecter of democracy and will drag everyone down with him if he feels his power is being challenged. “Between now and the inauguration, Mary wrote, “I worry about what Donald’s going to do in that time to lash out. He will go as far as he can to delegitimize the new administration.” And this is exactly what Chamisa did as well in Zimbabwe, running with an agenda to try and delegitimise President Mnangagwa’s presidency.
President Mnangagwa won 2.46 million votes against Chamisa’s 2.15 million. Meanwhile, in the USA, when counting in246 out of 250 States was completed, Biden had won more than 74 million votes across the country, the most votes cast for any presidential candidate in the history of that country, leading to a Florida Republican and member of the House of Representatives, Francis Rooney urging Trump and his party to accept the results of the election and “get on with the programme. This comes as Trump continues to insist the election has been influenced by fraudulent voting. The same happened here when in 2018; Chamisa declared victory in the election, but at the same time raising concerns surrounding the fairness of the process.
The voting pattern in the US was similar to the one that occurred in 2018 in Zimbabwe, where most MDC-A supporters voted for their party’s Member of Parliament, but did not vote for Chamisa and instead voted for President Mnangagwa.
This irked both Trump and Chamisa who thought the crowds at their rallies would automatically translate to votes. The elections are not about popularity votes, but real ballots determine who becomes president. That is the democracy that the opposition and their handlers always scream about. It does not matter that Trump’s rallies were always packed, if those people chose not to vote for him.
Mary broke it all down when she said, “It means that people were voting against Donald Trump in this election, but not necessarily against this party, that added so much salt to his narcissistic wounds.”
Speaking to The Guardian, Mary added that, “This is what Donald’s going to do; he’s not going to concede, although who cares. What’s worse is he’s not going to engage in the normal activities that guarantee a peaceful transition.”
This reminds me of Chamisa when he refused to concede that he had lost an election even when he lost at the Constitutional Court where he had taken his case to. President Mnangagwa offered an olive branch to him to join the Political Actors’ Dialogue (POLAD) that would help Government meet the people’s expectations. Other political parties did join, but because he wanted to make this country ungovernable as much as possible, he decided to hold out on offering advice and working with Government.
The US elections have exposed their modus operandi in the manipulation of election results. When they lose, they claim they were rigged in order to delegitimise the electoral process and undermine the people’s will.
Trump though being slightly younger than Biden, lost an election, yet the US trump card in Africa is that Africa should empower young politicians as old politicians are like dead wood. Old wood continues to reign in the oval office at the White House in Washington District of Columbia (DC), yet not good enough for Africa. This has totally exposed the US’s machinations toward their regime change agenda. Old leaders hold dear the norms and values, ideologies and sacrifices done by the forbearers and they honour them and pass them to the next generation, as a way of grooming future leaders.
Young leaders like Chamisa are impressionable, born free and have no principles. It is easy for them to throw away the ideals of this country for financial gain, this is why and how the West intended to recolonize Africa using proxy leaders such as the new crop of opposition politicians, who are more interested in pop-culture, than in building a developmental state.
