by Tawanda Chiweshe
Many Zimbabweans have castigated the United States outgoing President, Donald Trump for unleashing his supporters who stormed and vandalised US Capitol Building, where the process of certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s win was in progress yesterday.
Trump has been disputing the results of the 3 November 2020 presidential poll, but has failed to produce evidence to support his claims. Trump’s stunt, which US senator, Mitt Romney described as an “attempted coup” and an “insurrection,” resulted in the death of four people and 52 arrests.
A Germany-based Zimbabwean journalist, Josey Mahachie reminded Trump to respect the will of the people.
“Just know the will of the people, is the will of God,” Mahachie tweeted.
Other Zimbabweans such as Samuel Chiringa pointed out the hypocrisy of the US and the western world when it comes to power transition.
“They call it a revolution by storming into the Capitol Building which is the meeting place of the US Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the US Federal Government. If this was in Zim it would have been called a crisis,” Chiringa.
Another netizen, Tendayi Zinyama also shared Chiringa sentiments
“Why is America not yet downgraded? Where are the rating agencies? Imagine if US Capitol chaos was in an African state?” posted Zinyama on his Twitter handle.
Other people such as Tatenda Gonorenda opined that Trump should ensure a smooth transition as the US has previously expected and insisted of other countries, failure of which its claims of being the paragon of democratic virtue would be exposed as rank hypocrisy.
“Trump should deliver a peaceful transition of power, the same that they demand from the rest of the world. The events unfolding at the US Capitol are a clear show of hypocrisy and double standards behind America's concept of democracy,” he said.
The people who normally openly associate with the US and the US Embassy in Zimbabwe such as the MDC Alliance were conspicuous by their stony silence on the matter. The MDC Alliance spokesperson, Fadzai Mahere, who of late has been hogging the limelight for peddling falsehoods on Twitter, was uncharacteristically silent despite the topicality of the issue.
“No peaceful transition of power in USA (as) evidenced by the desperate last-minute bid by Trump to overturn his election loss (which) sparked chaos and accusations of a “coup” attempt. The US Embassy in Zimbabwe ought to say something. Democracy has been orphaned,” commented one Musa Kasamba.
Chiringa poked at other pro-US Zimbabweans for not calling out Trump for his undemocratic stunt.
“White privilege on display. Where are you @daddyhope (journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono), @advocatemahere (Mahere) (and) @nelsonchamisa (MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa)? Why are you not speaking of the racism that is being displayed in America. If these were black people we would be talking about a massacre,” Chiringa said.
Other Zimbabweans criticised Trump by making fun of the event and America’s notion of democracy.
“Zimbabweans, watch this free movie, happening live, no computer theatrics like John Rambo. It's live. The @usembassyharare (US Embassy in Zimbabwe) has gone to sleep with shoes on. 1 August (2018) turning out in US. God is for us all,” tweeted ZANU PF Director of Information, Tafadzwa Mugwadi.
He was referring to Chamisa’s attempt to plunge the country into mayhem through protests by MDC Alliance youths in Harare on 1 August 2018, when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was still counting and collating votes.
Admire Ndlovu jokingly sought to foist a national transition authority (NTA) onto the Americans as a solution to Trump’s contestation of the election results the same way the West has been trying to bring the MDC Alliance into power through an NTA.
“Only a National Transitional Authority can solve this USA Crisis. We demand a dialogue between Trump and Biden. (British Prime Minister) Boris (Johnson) must be the mediator,” Ndlovu commented.
