A leader versus a politician

Around the world there are politicians trying to gain potential voters by telling them they will place their nation first. Unfortunately, in Zimbabwe, we have a politician who has said openly that he will make the people and the nation subordinate to his political aims.

At a recent rally in Chiweshe, MDC Alliance President Nelson Chamisa admitted openly that the sanctions the U.S. has placed on Zimbabwe, that have seen our economy and people suffer, are part of their election campaign strategy.

"Ndakaona America ichitaura, ndozvinoita kuti tibvise hurumende iripo iyi (We saw the US talking about it saying sanctions will help us to remove the current government)," said Chamisa.

While this might seem like idle chatter, we should remember this is the same Chamisa, who together with People's Democratic Party leader Tendai Biti, travelled to Washington in November, almost immediately after Mugabe had been removed, where they met several officials in the US administration.

Not long after these meetings, the U.S. made the extremely unfortunate decision to renew their sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately, this is not Chamisa's only outrage concerning the U.S.

After returning from that trip, Chamisa said President Trump pledged to bail out an MDC Alliance government with $15 billion for reconstruction and economic recovery programmes, should they win the elections.

Of course, Chamisa's absurd dreams were immediately shot down by reality.

United States embassy spokesperson David Macguire rejected these comments saying "We do not make such promises to individuals or political parties."

While in this instance, Chamisa's loose lips and lies led to little more than his embarrassment and foolishness, on the sanctions issue, Chamisa's action are actively leading to the suffering of average Zimbabweans.

It now appears the US government made its recent decision to extend sanctions against Zimbabwe last week on the basis of misinformation given by Chamisa and other elements within the opposition parties.

Much of what came out of the U.S. surrounding the extensions of sanctions appears to be verbatim distortions by leaders of the MDC.

What is interesting is that when foreign officials have met President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and other government officials, they have noticed the change in policy and atmosphere in Zimbabwe and they have spoken very highly of it.

Many nations and large companies have expressed their confidence in the new leadership and have signed agreements worth billions of dollars.

So while Chamisa is traveling around trying to tell foreigners, not only not to invest in Zimbabwe, but to actually make it harder for the people, ED has been traveling around and receiving guests in Zimbabwe to ensure a better economic future and more jobs for Zimbabweans.

It is of course possible to criticise how much ED has done and look at his record. However, placed up against his main challenger who is actively looking to suppress investment in Zimbabwe, there is no contest about who is trying to put their country first.

In fact, while Chamisa criss-crosses the country campaigning and politicking, ED has to run a country and bring in crucial foreign investment, and has no time to extend himself towards the upcoming elections.

This is the difference between a leader and a politician. A politician always looks at any opportunity and thinks about what they can get out of it to further their political career, whereas a leader puts their nation and its people above all else.

Chamisa it seems is the former, and ED is an example of the latter.