Chamisa should respect his ‘own’ values Nelson Chamisa
Nelson Chamisa

Nelson Chamisa

Ephraim Banda
THERE is an old African proverb which says, “The young bird does not crow until it hears the old ones.”

This perhaps best sums up MDC Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa. As a young pretender to become leader of Zimbabwe, he is only able to run for office, espouse his opinion openly and say the things he does, because an ‘older one’ led the way.

However, he has yet to recognise this simple reality.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Chamisa said: “We can never have an old person being an instrument of change.”

It can be assumed that Mr Chamisa kept a straight face when making this comment, and didn’t appear to appreciate the blatant irony that he was giving an interview about being a candidate in upcoming open, free and fair elections precisely because President Mnangagwa was that instrument of change.

In fact, it could be easily argued that no single politician, or person, had as much of a hand in changing our country in decades as E D.

So Mr Chamisa is not only being disrespectful to all people older than him, in direct opposition to the Bible that he claims he holds dear, but he is also factually incorrect.

President Mnangagwa is already an important and effective instrument of change, and achieved more in a few days than Mr Chamisa has achieved in his four decades in this world.

One just has to read the interview to understand that even Mr Chamisa knows that the Zimbabwe he is now living in is a vastly different country to that before November last year. He could not have failed to notice the difference, the changed energy in our nation, the new reality we live in.

As a politician, he will have paid attention to the fact that the President passed a responsible budget that reduced our national deficit and cut huge swathes of government waste and also included numerous measures intended to indicate to investors around the world that Zimbabwe is now open for business.

That many of the most economically prosperous are now beating down a door to invest in the new Zimbabwe will not have escaped him, including $3 billion in Foreign Direct Investment commitments in only seven weeks, an important vote of confidence in our investment-led economic recovery.

Additionally, that this government led by President Mnangagwa adopted a zero-tolerance approach to corruption by instituting a three-month amnesty to get back stolen funds, to be followed by arrest and prosecution, and all Cabinet Ministers have been mandated to declare assets. Already hundreds of millions of dollars have been returned to the country’s coffers, and more is trickling in.

Gone are the worst manifestations of the old regime, like the police roadblocks which would ensure our pockets were empty when we would drive anywhere.

If, after witnessing all of this, and much more, Mr Chamisa still believes a person in their 70s cannot be an instrument of change, he is just fooling himself, and nobody else.

So if Mr Chamisa is as intelligent as he claims to be, he is extremely aware of all of this and is merely being ageist and trying to play the only card he seems to have, his youth.

However, older people could rightfully claim back at him that youthful over-exuberance and arrogance will also not make Mr Chamisa an instrument of change.

As the President rightfully said in a social media post, let’s make this a “competitive” and “positive” campaign, “providing the people of Zimbabwe with a clear and democratic choice”. Please Mr Chamisa, give us the citizens the tools to make our decisions, not based on age or background, but on the issues and policies that will have a direct effect on us.

Mr Chamisa, as an ordained pastor, should know better and has already apparently lost sight of his Christian values with such a brazen attack on someone merely because of their age.

Let’s respect the youth for their energy and dynamism and let’s admire those older for their experience and wisdom.

Nevertheless, Mr Chamisa must admit that he was not the change-maker, merely a person who can take advantage of the change made and created by others.

As the proverb goes, he only crowed once he heard the older ones.

Mr Chamisa should accept that change came before him, and now he should give the people a real and positive reason to vote for him.

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