South Africa Fails to Show Leadership on Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe refers to the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe whose huge buildings were built of stone boulders between the 11th and 15th Centuries by the proud Shona people of Southern Africa. Colonized under the name Rhodesia since 1889, Zimbabwe attained its independence in 1980 after a civil war lead by Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe.

Apparently there was not enough room for two national heroes. It took only 2 years for Mugabe to turn ugly. After Mugabe unleashed attacks that killed tens of thousands of Ndebele civilians, Nkomo fled for his life to London saying:

“…nothing in my life had prepared me for persecution at the hands of a government led by black Africans”

Fast forward 28 years – a world of economic and social heartbreak later – and it seemed that Zimbabweans’ were ready to embrace – and vote for – a new direction. Enter one Morgan Tsvangirai and one set of parliamentary elections stage right. Exit Mugabe stage left? Not likely.

By all accounts Mugabe was soundly defeated in the March 29 elections. But not according to the nations’ electoral commission which took a staggering 34 days to decide that the result was actually a … run-off. Meanwhile early breathless reports that negotiations were under way for Mugabe to step down were eclipsed by the realities of truck loads of armed police officers rounding up election monitors and opposition members, and worse.

 

The killing of scores of opposition party workers has turned funerals, like that of Tonderai Ndira, in Harare, into political rallies

Things spiraled rapidly downhill over the weekend. After weeks of gruesome killings and beatings of opposition figures, Morgan Tsvangirai said enough. On Sunday he announced that he was dropping out of the run-off election altogether. By Monday he was seeking refuge in the Dutch Embassy.

Today the U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned the Zimbabwean government and questioned the legitimacy of proceeding with the election.

South Africa however has been shamefully compliant. In April Thabo Mbeke, South Africa’s President proclaimed that there was “No Crisis in Zimbabwe“. On the weekend he met with Mugabe and continued to mumble empty platitudes about supporting Zimbabweans right to govern themselves.

Peter Godwin, author of “When a Crocodile Eats the Sun”, has a more sinister take in today’s NYT OpEd:

Most important, there is the FIFA soccer World Cup, for which South Africa is to act as host in 2010. That may seem like a long way off, but South Africa is already investing huge amounts both financially and politically, for what is supposed to be its triumphal coming-out party. Maybe Zimbabwe should become to the South Africa-hosted World Cup what Tibet has been to the Beijing Olympics — the pungent albatross that spoils every press conference and mars every presentation with its insistent odor.

A footnote: Nkomo died of prostate cancer in 1999 – back in Zimbabwe after an awkward period of “rehabilitation”. There are many who have questioned how the country would have fared differently had he remained a balance to the Mugabe regime. Will Morgan Tsvangirai get the second chance Nkomo never had?

What is clear is that South Africa’s leadership have run out of chances to play a meaningful role in resolving this crisis. And Zimbabweans’ may not be the only losers.

jxx