THE election on March 24 of 44-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye as the new Senegalese President might have typically excited the opposition in Zimbabwe.

However, the ideological orientation of the West African country’s leader is a far cry from what the opposition here expected.

Zimbabwe’s opposition have, in the past, demonstrated they are hostile to the fulfilment of the ideals and objectives of the liberation struggle through their irritating alliance and collusion with the country’s former colonial masters who openly support and fund them.

While the local opposition, as usual, claimed it was a victory for democracy, the gist of  what Faye stands for was completely lost on them.

Faye represents a continuation of Africa’s founding fathers’ quest for the economic emancipation of the masses — something they are naively at odds with.

“We eagerly await the sweet sound of democracy to echo from this great nation and reverberate across Africa. Welcome to a new and different Africa!” former CCC leader Nelson Chamisa ironically posted on his X page a day after the Senegalese poll results were announced.

Whether this was out of ignorance or not no-one can really say, but, with the political compass’ precision, it is clear the import of the whole thing was lost on Chamisa. Western democracy is a foreign concept, which, according to the Western definition, is built on ‘shifting sands’ which go with the wind.  

That he rushed to claim Faye’s victory as his own also did not come as a surprise. After all, the local opposition itself is nothing but a mirage.

Zimbabwean opposition parties have been brainwashed by their Western handlers to adhere to the ‘principle’ that a ‘free, fair and credible elections’ is the one that is won by the opposition.

Africa has, in the recent past, witnessed the rise of youthful leaders who have reignited the flame of the continent’s founding fathers.

Faye is not the first youthful leader to echo the sentiments of the founding fathers. History is replete with them — Patrice Lumumba, Ben Bella, Samora Moises Machel and Thomas Sankara, among a host of others!

While Faye came from the opposition, which is as far Chamisa will claim any common ground, he represents a break from the African continent’s agonising past of abuse, theft and plunder by the colonialists. Faye’s manifesto made good reading in many ways.

He proposed a raft of changes, including Senegal’s economic structure which is heavily skewed in favour of outsiders who own and control the means of production.

In 2000, Zimbabwe made a significant step towards addressing that inequality when it embarked on the historic land reform programme. 

As a result, the West is trying to effect regime change through unconstitutional means. 

Faye seeks to make changes to the country’s mining and energy contracts to give the Senegalese more control over their own resources and profits.

This, he says, is ‘economic enslavement’ that his leadership will address as a matter of urgency.

Riding on uplifting the livelihoods of the masses by giving them access to their resources and anti-colonial sentiments, directed in particular to Senegal’s former coloniser, France, Faye promised restoration of national sovereignty and implementation of ‘left-wing pan-Africanism’.

Sadly, those key words are woefully lost on the opposition in Zimbabwe.

The CCC has failed to come up with a credible manifesto that feeds into the people’s expectations. Instead, they are delusionally riding on their Western founders and handlers’ illegal sanctions which are designed to catapult them to power.

In contrast, Faye said on Monday last week that his government “…will remain a friendly country and a sure and reliable ally for any partner (who) engages with us in a virtuous, respectful and mutual co-operation”.

On the other hand, in Zimbabwe, the opposition collaborates with hostile governments that do not hide their evil agenda and desire to recolonise the country.

They call this brazen intrusion into the country’s internal affairs ‘democracy’.

“Prominent in Faye’s policy platform is the planned withdrawal of the CFA franc, a currency widely perceived as colonial. This represents a further move towards a full dissociation from the country’s former ties with France, as Faye argues that the currency benefits the former colonials more than the Senegalese people,” reads part of a report by Geopoliticalmonitor titled ‘Senegal democracy hopes lie with Africa’s youngest President’.

“Beyond that, Faye is hoping for a regional approach to monetary reform across ECOWAS, deeming it unfruitful to go it alone. In another noteworthy plan, the Faye administration will seek to renegotiate contracts with large oil and gas companies set to exploit the offshore platforms later this year.”

This is the true definition of ‘winds of change’ which is dichotomous with returning the land back to colonialists as has been the case with the opposition in Zimbabwe.

The critical issue that emerges from Faye’s policy thrust is that one can be in the opposition but still be in tandem with Senegal’s national agenda.

 In South Africa, the opposition EFF has demonstrated that there can be a point of convergence between political parties as demonstrated by its unrelenting push for the fulfilment of one of the key grievances of the liberation struggle — land reform.

On the contrary, the opposition in Zimbabwe detests land reform and the overall economic empowerment of the masses.

The economy should, in their opinion, be in the hands of exploiters from the West.

As Africa warmly embraces Cde Faye, there is no doubt that the opposition in Zimbabwe has not grasped any lessons from that glorious victory.

They are too engrossed in trying to convince their foreign handlers to come to terms with the pervasive fact that they, too, can become the opposition that the masses will vote for.