Donald Trump Making America Wait Again

16 NOV, 2020 - 00:11 

Zimbabwe Herald

Phew! What a week! God’s attention seemed to have been fixated on Zimbabwe. First, we lost Genius Kadungure better known as Ginimbi in a horrific accident. And next was Lazarus Boora affectionately known as Gringo.

Both represented something Zimbabwean.

Ginimbi was a rural boy who grew up in Domboshava and made it in the harsh business environment of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa with meagre education background.

Gringo became a household name with his inexhaustible comic antics on television where he stole the hearts of many by making us laugh.

Both deceased personalities had nicknames that started with G. Both characters had strong rural backgrounds and both made it big in their chosen fields.

But as expected, it was Ginimbi who stole the limelight by attracting a record crowd in the city centre of Harare where people jostled to have a glimpse of his shining casket with a Versace insignia on top.

Sadly, people wanted to mystify this guy’s life. Well, the guy was scantly educated and used his native intelligence to navigate the vagaries of life.

That in itself is commendable and there is really no need to scrounge for the dastard cause for making it to the top. He simply outsmarted the so called educated business executives and used his native intelligence to identify profitable enterprises.

All we can do now is to let his soul rest in peace and let his fighting spirit to make it at all odds inspire future generations. Here was a man so obsessed with acquiring very expensive toys that made even the who is who in the Western world green with envy.

Genius made it possible to realise one’s background does not in any way determine one’s destiny.

Now, let’s go to the actual business of Writing Black. We have known America as an aspirational country. A country with a long tested democratic culture that we never expected that there would be irregularities in the voting process.

We wish we had sent our own observers to monitor the elections that remain disputed with the incumbent Donald Trump refusing to concede.

So what have we learnt from the United States elections? Truth is none because we have always suspected that contrary to their deception, they (the West as represented by the US) are very behind, very divided and non-tolerant of divergent views.

President Trump has just made it easy for us to see what we have always known.

Donald Trump and his supporters are yet to get it that the Democrats and Joe Biden won the election

The American system of democracy is opaque, archaic and in need of drastic reforms. In fact, as President Trump attested, it is open to all forms of abuse and manipulation.

Eleven years after Barack Obama said; “Africa does not need strongmen, it needs strong institutions,” we watch and marvel at the irony. It’s actually America that needs strong institutions in light of what is currently happening in America where rival political supporters are clashing openly in streets.

In President Trump, America got itself a strongman who believes only in his own way and does not believe that he can be electorally defeated.

American institutions have undergone four-years of stress test during President Trump presidency and it seems those institutions are coming under a lot of testing as the Trump camp has indicated its intention to challenge the results in a court of law.

Without taking any sides, Africa is watching with amusement as President Trump trashes American democracy by alleging vote fraud and has since filed lawsuits calling for recounts and declaring himself a winner “by a lot.”

In President Trump’s repeated words, the “election was stolen”. The whole state of affairs is unsettling.

It’s even more humorous when pundits always want to compare the situation happening in America and even putting the military at the centre of the conundrum of the US election circus.

Donald Trump only needs the support of key institutions like the military to refuse to leave power. What an embarrassment that would be.

What the Trump team is not buying is the assertion that people voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden, even more than they did to Obama. What has not occurred to team Trump is that people may not necessarily have been voting for Biden, but rather against Trump.

A megalomaniac he is, Trump declared himself winner of 2020 elections and his followers believed his gospel. His supporters are currently waiting for further instructions on next steps from their leader.

The sad thing is Trump is not aware that his actions are making him and America a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.

We pray that his 70 million supporters won’t be tempted to spread terror against those who voted against their candidate because that would definitely cause a lot of instability not just in America.

It appears America has descended into the narrative of them and us typical of tribal groups. Tribal labelling only serves to create tension and antagonism with some people acting irrationally.

Africa has something to teach America. Human decency matters so is unity, tolerance, respect, equality, kindness and peace.

In the final analysis, America must stop this habit of lecturing the world about human rights and democracy. They simply have no moral authority to do so given the circus obtaining in their country.

One more lesson to Americans, please stop destabilising your beautiful country by your utterances. Political contestations must not degenerate into a full out war against one another.