Joe Biden at 81 versus Robert Mugabe at 81: No match

AS HAS BECOME ITS ENTRENCHED TENDENCY, a characteristically thoughtless and delinquent segment of the political opposition in Zimbabwe has been busy using old-age to make asinine comparisons between the public engagement of the late President Robert Mugabe and that of the embattled US President Joe Biden, in the wake of his dazed and Zombie-like performance during his unforgettable debate with an unhinged Donald Trump on @cnni last Thursday.

Comparisons are meaningful and instructive, but only if like is compared with like.

If you compare like with like, there's nothing about Biden at 81 that matches Mugabe at 81. Attached on the left is 81-years old President Biden in 2024 on CNN last Thursday, and on the right is 81-years old President Mugabe on @BBCWorld's Newsnight with Evan Davis in 2005.

As is readily self-evident, there's nothing about President Biden at 81 that matches the presence of mind or mentality agility of President Mugabe at 81. In fact, Biden's mental awareness and capacity at 81, does not even match Mugabe's at 93 in November 2017 when he was deposed from power; or at 94 in May 2018 when he had his last major engagements with the national and international media, ahead of the July 2018 harmonised general election.

That said, it is notable that President's Biden's sorry situation - which has all but knocked him out of the November presidential election - is not about age per se but is about his mental well-being or lack thereof; as it is apparent that Biden has dementia believed to be caused by Alzheimer's disease, not his age.

This is important to highlight and to understand because, while it mostly afflicts older adults, dementia is not part of normal aging.

The real issue in question and the focal point on this matter is neither about Biden nor Mugabe nor their respective ages nor their mental states at any given time; the issue is about the nauseating tendency by a particular segment of the political opposition in Zimbabwe, which has distinguished itself as ideologically bankrupt, thoughtless to the level of juvenile delinquency; and which is wont to opportunistically snatch at anything happening anywhere in the world to make asinine comparisons with incomparable past or current situations in Zimbabwe, in the vain hope of harvesting political mileage.

Witness how the same segment of the political opposition in Zimbabwe - the one which has been making asinine comparisons between Biden and Mugabe - has also been recklessly jumping all over the place, excited about the Gen Z demonstrations in Kenya, blissfully yet ignorantly wishing the same could happen in Zimbabwe; with no regard for the history and ideologically context and policy content of the Kenyan situation versus what obtains in Zimbabwe.

For example, while Kenya's Gen Z elements that demonstrated against the now abandoned Finance Bill are nationalists and are critical of and opposed to IMF austerity policies and programmes, and while their concerns have been acknowledged by the Kenyan authorities who have undertaken to address them; the segment of Zimbabwe's political opposition - which has been thoughtlessly and context-lessly wishing it could import the Kenyan demonstrations into Zimbabwe to replicate them - is an anti-nationalist lot who shamelessly pride themselves for being puppets of imperialists and running dogs of imperialism, known for mindlessly worshiping anything and everything American or Western; including outdated, meddlesome, increasingly irrelevant and unwanted Bretton Woods institutions like the IMF!