Chamisa's lies are eroding public trust

Albert Einstein once said: "Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters."

Truth and trust are vital ingredients for any politician and would-be leader.

Mr Nelson Chamisa, throughout his career, has been used to saying the wrong thing and getting away with it largely because he wasn't considered a significant enough leader.

However, now he is a candidate for president everything he says can potentially make headlines and recent events haveshown how careless he is with his language.

Mr Chamisa has already got himself in hot water over a lie that put him in direct opposition to the American Administration.

Earlier in the year, the United States had to publicly distanceitself from claims by the MDC Alliance leader when he claimed that President Donald Trump promised the opposition party a $15 billion kitty should they win the forthcoming elections.

Rather than apologising for the careless mishap, Mr Chamisadenied ever saying it, compounding his error and embarrassing himself further. Among a long catalogue of other careless and inaccurate statements by Mr Chamisa, another involved the family of Dr Joshua Nkomo, whose family Mr Chamisa said had offered him the former's sceptre.

"I was so touched when I went to Dr Nkomo'sMatsheumhlophe house. I was going there to see the history of this nation. However, the family told me one thing, they said ever since the death of Dr Nkomo, I am the first national leader to visit the house, they even offered to give me Dr Nkomo's traditional sceptre (intonga)," Mr Chamisa claimed. Dr Nkomo's son, Mr Sibangilizwe, dismissed Mr Chamisa'sutterance, questioning "that a young man like Chamisa can speak such an abomination?"

"It's not a matter that you can joke about. It's an abomination that he can talk cheaply about intonga ka baba. It's the property of our ancestors. It represents our family's ancestry and it is unacceptable for him to joke around with such matters," said Mr Sibangilizwe Nkomo. Other, far more dangerous lies was when Mr Chamisasensationally claimed that "Zanu-PF plants" were behind the assault on his bitter rival Dr Thokozani Khupe during the burial of Morgan Tsvangirai in February. These are just a few examples.

He has stretched the truth to the limit too many times, so much that internationally-acclaimed Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin'ono has coined the term "Wambalogy of the Week", pertaining to the lie Chamisa will spin over the next seven days.

"Chamisa's lies have become so outrageous and frequent that we need to examine his unsavoury habit from a psychological perspective looking at both compulsive and pathological lying," Harare base columnist lConway Nkumbuzo Tutanirecently wrote.

He goes on to explain that getting a compulsive liar to admit he or she lied can be nearly impossible. Indeed, some people get so accustomed to lying that they do so even when there is no clear purpose, and when their lies are easily disproven, leaving everyone scratching their heads over the point of their deceptions. Unfortunately, more and more Zimbabweans, even many MDC supporters are asking questions about Mr Chamisa'serratic behaviour and propensity for lies and untruths.

These are seriously worryingly character traits for someone who wants to gain our trust enough to achieve our vote so that he might be in charge of our national affairs, economy and army.

These continued lies are not just harming his chances in the upcoming elections; they are creating massive mistrust in the man by his own followers.

There is growing disappointment, rather than anger among some of Chamisa's supporters. It is reminiscent of the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who once said: "I am not upset that you lied to me, I am upset that from now on I can't believe you."