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President Mnangagwa

Obi Egbuna Jr Simunye
When the US Sub-Committee on Africa and Global Health Policy that last week sponsored a hearing titled “The Future of Zimbabwe”, the committee’s ranking member, so-called African American Cory Booker decided in his opening remarks to insist that President Mnangagwa and zanu-pf address the political disturbances in Matabeleland and Midlands from 1982.

While the motivation behind Senator Booker is unclear, especially since the panel based on its title was supposed to be highlighting the way forward, it is rather unfortunate that whenever elected officials representing US-EU imperialism use this episode in Zimbabwe’s history to discredit both the ruling party and the nation’s revolutionary fighting forces, they all without fail deliberately ignore the Unity Accord, which saw former President and liberation icon Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the late former Vice President and national hero Joshua Nkomo merge ZANU and ZAPU into one political party.

Perhaps Senator Booker’s outlook on Zimbabwe is intellectually and politically compromised by both his endorsement of former US Secretary of State and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the US Presidency.

As we know, Mrs Clinton was a co-sponsor of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) of 2001. Senator Booker is also a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship, which provided him the opportunity to study at Oxford University.

Because defending the sovereignty and integrity of Zimbabwe is a real situation, meaning that we firmly believe that the fighting spirit of Mbuya Nehanda, who launched the first armed resistance against the British and Rhodesian invaders in 1896 truly lived in the ZANU and ZAPU guerrillas that defeated the British and Rhodesian fighting forces during the second Chimurenga, then it is safe to say perhaps the colonialist and imperialist values of the war criminal Cecil John Rhodes possesses the soul of Senator Booker, which explains why he is a johnny-come-lately to US-EU imperialism’s Zimbabwe regime change agenda. At the same time that Senator Booker is attempting to paint Zimbabwe as an example of violence that stems from the white supremacist disposition that Mother Africa as a whole is politically and militarily uncivilised, the Newark Police Department was informed by the US Capitol Police concerning a threat on Senator Booker’s life.

This resulted in Newark’s Mayor Baraka arranging for the Police Division Executive Protection Unit to provide security at the Senator’s humble abode in Newark. This was the second time Senator Booker’s life has allegedly been in danger, before taking office as the Mayor of Newark in 2006.

New Jersey investigators were said to have unhatched a plot by members of the Bloods gang, who were incarcerated in four different prisons for planning to assassinate Senator Booker.

Who knows, Senator Booker might call an impromptu Press conference and accuse President Mnangagwa and zanu-pf of being the masterminds of a diabolical plan to assassinate him for condemning Zimbabwe. During Senator Booker’s two term tenure as Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, the city in March 2010 had its first murder-free month in 44 years.

When describing what he believes to be a politically and socially volatile environment in Zimbabwe, Senator Booker knows one thing for sure, each and every one of Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces are more peaceful than Newark, Camden, Trenton and other cities in the State of New Jersey that are challenged with violence rooted in self hatred and abject poverty.

If Senator Booker feels this is a bluff, he can drive to the Jehovah Witnesses headquarters in Brooklyn and verify that when they had their convention in Zimbabwe three years ago, they acknowledged how peaceful the country was, which challenged the pompous emergency alert the US State Department has on their web page, exaggerating the political violence in Zimbabwe.

What needs to be determined is Senator Booker, just like former US President and US Senator Barack Obama, decided to use Zimbabwe to garner trust of US-EU imperialist politicians by demonstrating he will be twice as hostile and abrasive as his colleagues and counterparts of European ancestry

We must not forget Senator Booker turned down the opportunity to lead the White House Office of Urban Affairs, which led people to believe he will craft his own path to 1 600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

For all we know, Senator Booker, who is a junior Senator, might have stumbled across Mr Obama’s letter written to President Bush when he was in the exact same capacity as Senator Booker, urging him not to lift US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe until the dark cloud of President Mugabe was ousted from power and screamed out that’s the ticket.

Who would be surprised if Senator Booker decided to play an adult version of monkey see monkey do?

When examining the strategic blueprint of US-EU imperialism’s Zimbabwe regime change agenda, the State of New Jersey, without question stands out like Muslims in the Vatican or Catholics in Mecca. This could be the source behind Senator Booker’s inflammatory rhetoric that echoes the moods and sentiments of late Congressman Donald Payne and his Republican counterpart Christopher Smith, who are credited with pushing Zidera on both sides of the isle.

Senator Booker could very well have his staff dig up Congressman Payne’s statements on Zimbabwe, who had the audacity to call the revolutionary land reclamation programme misguided and wrong and as a board member of both the now defunct TransAfrica Forum and the National Endowment for Democracy, appeared to have been the bridge that was responsible for 14 right wing civil society groups in Zimbabwe receiving financial and political support to oust zanu-pf from power.

Senator Booker is a member of Democrat’s for Education Reform and Black Alliance for Educational Options and was able to secure a $100 million pledge from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

However Newark public schools, the largest in the State of New Jersey, is one of the lowest performing in the state, even though the state took control of the city’s school 22 years ago.

If Senator Booker is willing, he should visit Zimbabwe and get President Mnangagwa and zanu-pf’s take on how this is one of the cornerstones of Zimbabwe’s past, present and future. Senator Booker is also credited with doubling affordable housing in Newark. This implies the land reclamation programme in Zimbabwe would expand his horizons.

Senator Booker is primarily known for his flare for political dramatics, which includes a 10-day hunger strike protesting open door drug markets in Newark, saving a woman from a burning house and suffering smoke installation and second degree burns in the process and rescuing a dog from freezing temperatures.

We wonder if he is willing to travel to Zimbabwe and look at the impact US-EU sanctions have had on children, women and men. Another reason that might be behind Senator Booker’s decision to embrace the US-EU imperialist Zimbabwe regime change agenda like Mr Obama, he has some rather compelling ties to the Zionist State of Israel.

While at Yale, Senator Booker was a founding member of the Chai Society (now Shabtai) and was introduced to Judaism by Rabbi Shumley Boteach during his time at Oxford. Mr Obama had ties to Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, which led to relationships with David Axelrod, who was his Senior Advisor, who was introduced to Obama by Bettylu Saltzman, whose father Phillip Klutznick was President of the World Jewish Congress and B’nai B’rith, who was also Secretary of Commerce under former US President Jimmy Carter.

The decision to convert to Judaism led Senator Booker to study the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, leader of the Lubivatcher movement, who considered the Israeli six-day war in 1967 divine protection against Israel’s enemies and used biblical scripture which states The Guardian of Israel neither sleeps or protects.

Whether Senator Booker’s recent attacks on Zimbabwe are driven by future Presidential ambitions of Zionist Israel’s dismay with zanu-pf due to unwavering support for the Palestinians, it must be met with maximum resistance.

• Obi Egbuna Jr is US Correspondent to The Herald and the external relations officer of ZICUFA (Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association). His email is [email protected]