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Tafara Shumba

Correspondent

The United States holds its elections this year amid indications that identity politics, boosted by the Black Lives Matter movement, is shaping the voting behaviour of mostly the African-American electorate.

With a black population of over 40 million, plus a rise in black consciousness in America, the blacks have become the game changer, and any politician who takes them for granted, does so at their own peril.

This year’s election is seeing an increasing trend in the nomination of black candidates, heightened by the growth in support of Black Lives Matter amid recent protests occasioned by the murder of a black man, George Floyd in the US.

This new political development has already claimed the political career of Democratic Congressman, Elliot Engel who dismally lost in the New York primary polls against African American candidate, Jamaal Bowman.

Engel, the long-time New York Representative and chairman of the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, balloted a meagre 35 percent against a colossal 62 percent for Bowman, a former middle school principal.  We all know the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) of 2001 which was legislated by the US.

According to former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker, Zidera was passed to make Zimbabwe’s economy scream.

“To separate the Zimbabwean people from ZANU-PF, we are going to have to make their economy scream, and I hope you, senators, have the stomach for what you have to do,” said Crocker during hearings for the US sanctions law.

Engel was among the 91 percent of the Congressmen who endorsed Zidera.

Despite several calls from all angles, for the US to lift the unilateral sanctions on Zimbabwe, Engel and a few other members of the Congress, played a key role in the passing amendments to Zidera in 2018 just before Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections that ushered in the New Dispensation.

He adversely commented on Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections saying they did not meet the international standards.

He commented on the anti-government protest accusing President Mnangagwa’s administration of using security forces to violate “Zimbabwean citizens’ right to peacefully assemble to express discontent with their government”.

He went to an extent of ordering Zimbabwean authorities to immediately release Pastor Evan Mawarire and other civil society activists who had been allegedly detained on politically-motivated charges.

He also ordered the Zimbabwean police and the military to cease using alleged violence against unarmed protesters. However, he did not bark the same orders when the same situation replayed in his own backyard after the murder of Floyd.

Jamaal Bowman

That is Engel for you, preoccupied with a tiny country like Zimbabwe. His electoral defeat therefore attracts Zimbabwe’s attention with a lot of questions on how he lost it in a battle quite reminiscent of the Biblical Goliath versus David fight.

Engel lost the race on account of his miscalculation of the blacks’ appreciation of the global political dynamics. The Democratic Congressman, who had not faced any serious fight for the seat since 1988, also made some missteps that his 44-year-old rival profited from as they played into his campaign strategy.

Engel had attempted to charm the African-American electorates by using a resolution he had put forward against Russian businessman, Yevgeny Prigozhin who has ties with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Engel had lobbied for additional sanctions to be imposed on Prigozhin whom he accused of undermining the security and the interests of the United States on behalf of the Russian government.

The Russian businessman was also accused of attempting to influence the 2016 and 2018 US elections.

“His Internet Research Agency (IRA) troll firm blatantly interfered in the 2016 and 2018 elections by waging disinformation campaigns against the American people, while his Wagner Group mercenaries have engaged in violent and subversive operations in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere against our allies and partners. We must impose additional sanctions against Prigozhin and the tools he continues to use to undermine American interests, and work with our European Union partners to encourage them to take similar steps,” said Engel.

It is this line of argument that Engel had hoped would entice the black voters. That was a careless and misjudged assumption tantamount to an attempt to win over Muslims through killing prophet Muhammad. To the African-American, Prigozhin is their hero and defender of their rights and freedoms. He is a devoted critic of the neo-colonial policies of the EU and US. He has accused America of sponsoring global terrorism and has deplored its influence on some African countries. His narrative is in harmony with the current Black Lives Matter wave. New York has the second largest black population, thus attacking Pigozhin, an idol for the blacks in that city, was a political miscalculation. It was also an offbeat expectation for Engel to anticipate that his resolution against the Russian businessman would elicit a standing ovation from the blacks.

This is the same miscalculation that the West always makes in Africa. They try to force Africans to hate their heroes, their Robert Mugabes, their Muammar Gaddafis, Patrice Lumumbas and other great African Statesmen. The more they attempt to force hatred, the more the target is idolised.

The Africans are not lost to the fact that these targeted statesmen liberated and economically empowered them.

In building his case against Prigozhin, which forms the basis for his argument for additional sanctions to be slapped on the Russian businessman, Engel used the same template that the US uses in justifying their sanctions.

As usual, when a leopard wants to eat its young ones, it first accuses them of smelling like a goat. Zimbabwe fell victim to this strategy when the US national security advisor Robert O’ Brien named Zimbabwe as one of America’s foreign adversaries exploiting the Floyd’s murder to stoke and promote violence in the US using social media.

It is beyond comprehension that a tiny country like Zimbabwe can stoke violence in the US and that a mere businessman can wage a disinformation campaign against the biggest economy on this planet.

The accusations that Prigozhin’s “Wagner Group mercenaries have engaged in violent and subversive operations in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere against our allies and partners” is strikingly reminiscent of what happened to Zimbabwe when it intervened, under the auspices of SADC, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to repel the US’ attempt to overthrow the Laurent Kabila government through proxies and mercenaries.

This is the prime reason why Zimbabwe is on the US sanctions and never about democracy.

Engel has been commenting damagingly on Zimbabwe, portraying it in bad light. He accused President Mnangagwa of caring little for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe. However, he has been accused of failing to defend the rights of blacks in US.

He had a phony love for his constituencies which largely contributed to his loss.

During the height of New York’s Corona virus crisis, Engel deserted his electorates and went to stay in Maryland. This became a centrepiece of his rival’s campaign who went on to argue that he had lost touch with his district.

Engel also did himself no favour when he was caught on a live microphone asking to speak at a news conference on Floyd’s brutal murder. After being told that there was no time, Engel was heard pleading that “if I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care”.

The statement drew backlash from his opponent who said the problem was not that he wanted to speak but why he wanted to speak.

If there was no election, he would not care to speak about the brutal murder of a black man. The statement was cast as evidence of Engel’s indifference to the concerns of New York’s 16th Congressional District.

As Bowman primary election victory draws the curtain close over Engel’s political career, Zimbabwe will remember him as the author of its misery. History will judge him harshly for ruining Zimbabwe’s three decades of existence.