Kansas State University

In this piece, Linda K Sibanyoni, an active politician and entrepreneur from Harare, Zimbabwe, and 2019 Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumna, offers a reflection from the global field on the state of democracy in the United States. In Linda’s piece, we’d invite you to consider a look from the outside in and reflect on the practices of democracy beyond the vote that challenge and sustain a nation. What leadership is required to persist in those practices at personal, organizational, and institutional levels? What practices must we strengthen and are their practices that need to be challenged or even jettisoned in order to make progress?

One of the true marks of a great leader, I believe, is their ability to be graceful in defeat.

As a Zimbabwean spectator to the insurrection in Washington, D.C., that took place Jan. 6, 2021, sadly this isn’t new to my Zimbabwean reality. The failure of a President to accept defeat is something I know very well, have seen and lived through. It is the highest mark of bad leadership in practice and it is dangerous to the progress and development of a nation.

What has kept the United States as a benchmark of democracy is its ability to continue striving for greatness even after 200 years. The ability of American leaders who have held office to respect institutions regardless of feelings. A history of Presidents who have always remembered that their duty to country – which also includes being graceful in defeat – is greater than personal sentiments and feelings.

In March 2008, Zimbabwe had a great show of un-constitutionalism when our then late President Robert Mugabe and his party Zanu-PF refused to accept defeat in the 2008 General Elections. What followed was a series of unspeakable terror and horrors unleashed upon the citizens of Zimbabwe. Especially those in the constituencies that had previously voted Zanu-PF and had now voted for the opposition party MDC, led by the late Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

When a leader refuses to accept and be graceful in defeat they will hang onto power by all means possible and violence is usually the means at their disposal. The brutality and violence enacted upon Zimbabweans during that period then resulted in a run-off election victory for the governing party Zanu-PF. Unfortunately, in Zimbabwe we do not have strong institutions to support and strengthen democracy when leaders refuse to accept defeat. This is now the current struggle of young emerging leaders in Zimbabwe to build strong institutions, to be ethical leaders who speak truth to power at all times, to learn how to be graceful in defeat as most of us lost in the 2018 elections, to be leaders who extend dignity and respect to all. To be leaders who have a strong desire for the common good and a deep true passion for a Zimbabwe that works for all whether we have political office title or not as leadership is an activity.

Unlike the case in the United States, even when President Trump refused to accept defeat, (though it was absolutely shocking to Americans) what the world witnessed was the effectiveness of strong institutions at work in guarding the integrity of the elections and defending and upholding the constitution. America continued to work through all that. Zimbabwe stopped working when our then late President Mugabe refused to accept defeat, as state capture of institutions occurred to the extent that institutions that ought to safeguard and defend the constitution of Zimbabwe assisted in ensuring a run-off election victory for the governing party Zanu-PF.

A few questions to ponder on:

• What other way to achieve productive disequilibrium in the US and test the strength of the American institutions but only through a President who refused to accept defeat?
• Could this also have been a wake up call for Americans to also interrogate the character of the leaders they elect to serve them in the office of the President?
• Going forward for Americans how can this be avoided from happening again in the future?

“Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing.”- Archibald MacLesih.

That is what the United States has done and will continue to do. The United States has shown the importance of building strong institutions, their functionality in unprecedented times like these and the importance of upholding constitutionalism even when backed into a corner.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX. Kansas State University is a sub-grantee of IREX and is implementing a Leadership Institute as a part of the Fellowship. For more information about the Mandela Washington Fellowship, please visit the Fellowship’s website at www.mandelawashingtonfellowship.org. 

More about Linda K Sibanyoni

Linda K Sibanyoni is an independent politician who has five years of experience in the Zimbabwean political arena. Linda is a 2019 Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumna. Upon completion of the Mandela Washington Fellowship at the Staley School of Leadership Studies, Linda returned to Zimbabwe with an increased capacity to lead, and enhanced skills and knowledge regarding leadership in order to maximize on her impact in Zimbabwean politics.

In 2020, she founded an organization called ThirdWayZW. ThirdWayZW is a political and governance think tank that works with a team of young, ethical and transformational Zimbabweans in providing and implementing solutions to the current political and economic Zimbabwean crisis.

Linda is motivated by her purpose to serve her country with integrity, respect, a strong of sense duty and ultimately a commitment to a just and democratic Zimbabwe that works for all Zimbabweans.