by own Correspondent

On the last Sunday of August 2018, United States (US) Senator John McCain breathed his last after battling brain cancer.

Various eulogies delivered at McCain’s memorial service in Washington, made it seem as though the speakers were competing in describing what Zimbabwe’s main opposition, MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa was not.

Speaker after speaker concurred that John understood that some principles transcend politics and that some values transcend party. The long and short of it being that McCain prioritized the wellbeing of America in everything he did. The same cannot be said about Chamisa, who after losing the July 2018 election is doing everything he can to ensure that the country does not prosper so that his party remains relevant.

Probably the different backgrounds speak more to the different characters of McCain and Chamisa. The former came from a long line of people who had served in the US military and went on to distinguish himself in the Vietnam War (despite its impetus). On the other hand Chamisa used student politics as a spring board into national politics. It is therefore clear that Chamisa does not understand where Zimbabwe is coming from and where it ought to go. Violent demonstrations might have been effective in student politics, but the same cannot be said in national politics.

When McCain was captured during the Vietnam War he is said to have learned the meaning of the words – how each moment, each day, each choice is a test. And according to former US President Barack Obama, John McCain passed that test – again and again and again.

“… That’s why, when John spoke of virtues like service, and duty, it didn’t ring hollow. They weren’t just words to him. It was a truth that he had lived, and for which he was prepared to die. It forced even the most cynical to consider what were we doing for our country, what might we risk everything for.”

It goes without saying that John would never beg another nation to impose sanctions on America despite his differences with other American political players. He understood that all US politicians had one goal – to see America prevail!

McCain lost to Obama in 2008 US presidential race but he is said to have met the later many times in private to discuss among other issues their country’s politics. In Zimbabwe, it is another story, inasmuch as President Emmerson Mnangagwa has expressed willingness to work with Chamisa for the betterment of the country, the latter is not. Chamisa insists that elections were rigged (something he could not prove in court) and as such cannot work with President Mnangagwa. It is clear from such stunts that to Chamisa – it is about him and not the people of Zimbabwe. That might also explain why his lieutenant and People’s Democratic Leader, Tendai Biti was gloating that they would lobby that the ED administration does not get a cent using sanctions.

McCain, unlike Chamisa was not economic with the truth. According to Obama, John is said to have believed in honest argument and hearing other views. He understood that if American politicians get in the habit of bending the truth to suit political expediency or party orthodoxy, their democracy would not work. As such the deceased was at times willing to buck his own party. On this side of the Universe Chamisa and company managed to sell the greatest lie to the people of Zimbabwe – that Zanu PF is to blame for the economic downturn being faced in the country and only he can solve that.  My question is, if he Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) was ineffective, would the American Government have bothered to renew it?

Whatever good or bad McCain did, he did it for his country – the same cannot be said about Chamisa who is striving to bend Zimbabwe to the will of America.