I saw Mugabe wreck a democracy. The Jan. 6 hearings matter — a lot.

But the hearings represent much more than just the political jockeying that Americans have come to expect from Washington. These proceedings, in particular their focus on the role played by then-President Donald Trump on that terrible day, represent the very thing that Zimbabweans never had with Mugabe: accountability. These hearings seek to hold those people accountable who would have taken America down a path that I know all too well.

In Zimbabwe and in many other unfree countries, leaders are often able to avoid the accountability and transparency that Americans have come to take for granted. As has been widely noted, the Jan. 6 committee hearings are occurring as the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in arrives on June 17 — another event that ultimately showed U.S. democracy functioning exactly as it should.

For all of its flaws, scandals and mistakes, democracy in the United States has been remarkably resilient. Dissidents like me have often looked to it for inspiration.