As reports start filtering through on the United Nations Security Council meeting which dealt with the election impasse in Zimbabwe, the Times of London confirms: “South Africa led efforts to block the dispatch of a UN envoy to Zimbabwe yesterday, as the UN Security Council met on the election stand-off for the first time.”
The basis for this, according to the Times reporters, is: “South Africa, China, Russia, Libya and Vietnam spoke up against any further Security Council action at this stage, diplomats said, with Burkina Faso saying that Africa should take the lead. A top official of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which claims that it won the March 29 election, held private meetings with key UN members in New York yesterday to press for an envoy to be sent to the country.”
And finally, worst for me: “Tendai Biti, the general-secretary of the MDC, travelled to New York to meet Security Council members separately, although South Africa, Russia and China appeared set to avoid him. He called for the UN to recognise the “illegality of the regime of Mugabe” and oversee a transfer of power to an MDC-led government of national unity.”
Africa should take the lead?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t Zimbabweans living through hell precisely because Africa and South Africa have done nothing? Haven’t Africa and the SADC had their chance and failed abysmally?
It’s one thing to stand back for your crony and speak of “quiet diplomacy,” but quite another to suddenly become loud and animated in defence of what? More quiet diplomacy?
Watching as Zimbabweans get butchered quietly?
Isn’t the foreign policy of South Africa supposed to accord in some small way with the sentiments of the South African people?
Yes, we begged Africa to lead the way. This resulted, if anything, in assisting Mugabe. In exasperation, the country endorsed UN intervention and your response is to move from zero to Mugabe’s hero in 5 seconds flat?
An absolute disgrace.
Unfortunately you are just “blowing in the wind”…the government doesn’t listen to anyone…Mugabe doesn’t give a toot..and some will say you’re too white to have a say …and anyway…what crisis???
Zimbabweans. I hope that they remember the stance and support of Cosatu, of Bishop Tutu and other SA based organizations who put people before politics. But then Traps where is the conscience of South African business that have made and continue to make millions out of the misery of Zimbabweans, why is no one looking at the Zimbabwean stock exchange and questioning how it can be the best performing exchange in the world at a time like this. It is South African business who more than any sector or group could bring intense pressure to bear on Zanu.
I fully agree Traps.
Nice company to be keeping: South Africa, China, Russia, Libya and Vietnam…(one suspects North Korea was bunking)
There is no doubt this whole episode has really damaged the international creditability of South Africa.
See? They’re all bonded within their “brotherhood”: the former Front Line countries’ leaders and their long time mates.
No doubt we’re in a bipolarised political world again, and “big USA” has lost a few points when compared to the previous 80′s decade. And this time is serious, once Africa’s mineral wealth is turning definitelly to the opposite side.
This bipolarisation gives the enough support for Zim’s government to do whatever they want, regardless of being actions against human rights.
South Africa? It’s part of the block,… the other block.
It would be great if the remaining zimbabweans in Zim would do something similar to what palestinians did, and break through SA’s border all of a sudden. Then they could pick a place at Mbeki’s door to go through the night.
Well there you have it, Traps. The U.N Security Council proves its worthlessness yet again. I thought it was common knowledge that the so-called ‘security council’ only takes action when all the members political and economic interests don’t clash.
Mbeki should be ashamed of South Africa being on the dissent list, but he quite obviously isn’t. What a slimeball.
Guys if you read this article on the Zimbabwean Governor of the Reserve Bank it will give you an idea of the aimless way in which things are developing.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1402808.php/Zimbabwe_floats_currency_-_Reserve_Bank_Governor_abolishes_controls
Cronin (SACP) has said that as yet we don’t know if the MDC is the answer. He would like to hear more about their plans for the future. His point is valid.
What we do know is that Zanu-PF has failed and needs to go back to the drawing board. They need to regroup and come out fighting policy not the people of Zimbabwe.
Among their ranks are genuine Zimbabweans who care about their country. The last thing we need is a one-party country with the MDC this time running amok.
A strong two party state is the ideal and which hopefully will emerge from all this.
Traps,
You write:
“Isn’t the foreign policy of South Africa supposed to accord in some small way with the sentiments of the South African people?”
This would only apply in a society where the govt is accountable to the South African people. Mbeki sees himself as a revolutionary (Lenin?) who is leading the way. Whether the comrades or populace follow is not giving him sleepless nights.
(of course, when you are a member of the club of African presidents, you can’t invalidate the membership of a fellow president (ie Mugabe). That goes against the rules.)
A spokesman for Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party has confirmed that a number of election officials have been arrested over voting irregularities.
“There appears to have been numerous examples where millions of votes cast for the opposition MDC party were counted, and not thrown in the bin or fed to the goats, which is certainly highly irregular”
In other cases ballot boxes which would once have been stuffed with votes from dead people for the Zanu-PF party, and with dead people themselves, were instead filled with actual genuine ballot papers supporting the MDC.
Said the spokesman, “This kind of activity is highly democratic and needs to be stamped out immediately”.
@Traps that is really rich coming from Cronin the crony when he and his wanna be communists dress the part but march to the tune of the ANC. Geez guys Zimbabwe has its problems but they are way ahead of us when it comes to politics. I mean who exactly is the opposition in South Africa (and if you tell me the DA I’ll piss my pants with laughter). Cronin has stood by and been party to his mates robbing this country blind and by default (as he is part of the tripartite agreement) he has sanctioned Mbeki’s “Whispering diplomacy”. He hasn’t got the balls of the MDC. Who is he to appoint himself as auditor of the politics of Zimbabwe? Best he come out of the closet and start off by being a good communist or is he now a reformed Christian democrat?
Which brings me to the end of my rant (sadly) and the question that needs to be answered, which is, “If Jeremy is convinced that a two party state is the way to go why did the SACP reject the request from their own caucus in so far as contesting for their place in the politics of South Africa?
After this all finally pans out, I think there will be a backlash against China, South Africa, SADC, etc and more respet for the USA, UK, Brown and Cosatu, and the people of South Africa.
The Zims are not stupid, they know who has been trying to help them and who has been stopping them from receiving aid.
And how many people have been spouting racist cobblers about colonialists as reason why the Zim Reserve Bank has been stealing foreign currency for charities feeding aids orphans, and who it was that signed a permit for three million rounds of ammunition whilst the Uk trid o get the matter on the agenda of the UN.
The ANC has shown that it is alligned with China, Russia and the third word socialist movement on a number of occasions. We cannot expect the ANC to ever support a Western initiative. The ANC does not want to be friends with the USA as it is friends with Russia and China.
The reason the Zim stock exchange is performing so well is due to inflation. Any goods, including shares, need to be revalued everyday / minute. If one wants to hedge inflation buy shares as they keep pace with inflation. This does not mean that the underlying fundamentals are good and that one should invest in Zim shares. SA’s market has performed very well in the last 3 months compared to overseas markets BUT that is due to commodity price inflation and not better company performance as Angloplat’s results have just shown.
Floating the Zim dollar is the correct thing to do and should have been done a long while back. This move will go a long way in halting Bob’s money printing economic policies. I see Tito’s / our influence behind this.
Perhaps China and SA have teamed up to change Bob and Zanu-PF as neither want a pro western government in Zim?
Just another thought – why we think that the ANC is any better than Zanu-PF beats me. During the late 80′s and early 90′s the ANC killed, tortured and intimidated many black people who were opposed to it. Remember the necklace. So why do you expect from the ANC some moral high ground?
The explanation is not too difficult and comes out of the political/diplomatic situation and the nature and authority of one man.
Mbeki has stood throughout the Zim crisis for quiet diplomacy that brings African solutions to African problems. Put yourself in his position now, when this policy has visibly failed, and no graceful way out exists, especially if it is (even mild) Security Council action initiated by the UK.
If that were not enough, remember who we are speaking about here – a president who will not accept that he is wrong on anything.
Devastating combination.
Geejay
Spot on. Jeremy Cronin has an almighty cheeck to say “as yet we don’t know if the MDC is the answer” Zim haved VOTED for the MDC – so what has it to do with us knowing anything. He should concentrate on forming a socialist opposition to the ANC so that WE have a two party state.
Owen
Spot on. Zimbaweans are buying shares because they don’t want to hold any of their money – in the forlorn hope that the shares might keep SOME value. And South African businesses are loosing money in Zim, not making any. They are being underwritten by profits from SA, and hanging on hoping for a change.
There just has to be more to the SADC stance than “quiet diplomacy” and “african brotherhood”. Maybe the media needs to apply scientific method. In other words come up with a theory and then try and prove the theory through the medium of good investigative journalism. There’s an interesting challenge
@Craig
I cannot resist the question…what international credibility?
I find it quite interesting to watch how the Zanu-PF slowly break the news of the run-off – test the waters – while their military and allied thugs arrest, torture or murder anyone who dares to stop the rigging second time around.
It will be fascinating to see what we as South Africans do if Zimbabwe descends into civil war.
We’ve seen our President visit Mugabe who couldn’t be bothered to travel to the crisis summit on Zimbabwe AND YET ignore the MDC representative at the United Nations.
Accordingly any suggestions of impartiality on our part are as pathetic as our involvement in mediation have been insipid.
But I digress……
A wise Man once said “by your deeds shall you be judged”. The current South African regieme can’t be bothered with this simple observation, so Mbeki’s logic is: as Mugabe was an ally in the past, he can do what he likes and our attitude to him won’t change.
So we learned nothing from the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission. In the same way that people could confess the truth of their past and seek reconcilliation in the new South Africa, others can (try to) hide the truth of their institutionalised brutality and yet be considered loyal allies. Clearly the principle does not have universal application.
What Mbeki doesn’t seem to realise, is that he has single-handedly taken a beacon of African achievement (the ANC) and dimmed it to the level of his own feeble moral convictions. Sticking up for someone who is a muderous, callous, greedy, anti-democratic, thief and despot (and those are his nice qualities) does not make you a moral person.
The question now is, does the Mbeki regieme have any moral authority in Southern Africa? Absolutely not. Maybe Mbeki should concede the point and allow the UN to make this contribution to world peace (despite their dismal past record).
“An absolute disgrace” you say. When you have to take a government to court to get anti-RV rollout, is that also a disgrace? Me thinks not, because most of these Southern African leaders think they are more important than their electorates. In fact, the more Mugabe bashes his people, the more silent people like Mbeki seems to get. Whenever they say something, you can bet that the complete opposite is happening. To me, quiet diplomacy simply tells me that African lives are worthless to African leaders. Genocide is okay but we must all learn to keep it quiet and call it an African solution to an African problem. Mbeki – be damned1
My compliments to the SACP – Could not have said it better guys :
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804290415.html
@Anton Kleinschmidt -
You must be correct in saying there has to be more to SADC’s stance than African brotherhood and quiet diplomacy – but expect no help from the media, who still have not discovered that diplomacy is a means not an objective.
From the start the term ‘quiet diplomacy’ has muddled opinion (perhaps it was deliberate) and served to conceal that SA’s actual objective was to do nothing; secondly, African brotherhood alone cannot convincingly explain SADC’s inaction – and of course, SA’s.
The aim first and foremost has been to preserve regional stability – local crises as dictatorships refuse to give way easily escalate and cross borders.
Mugabe remains a warrior, possessor by right of conquest. Peaceably yielding power makes as much sense to him as it would have to King Shaka or Attila the Hun. He has often publicly threatened to ‘go back into the bush’ and regional governments took him at his word.
Jeremy Cronin’s political nous is even worse than his execrable “poetry”.
Much has been said about Zims inflation,it would be interested if somebody came along and spelled
out what exactly is going on, because to me it at appears Zim is suffering from all sorts of inflation,like stagflation,hyperinflation,demand
inflation etc,if inflation stands at 165000%
are items that once cost a rand now costing 165000
Rand?
Yes 92Nick m there will be an armed revolt and revolution. When enough people are sleeping under bridges and starving it will come. You need only look at issues like Global warming which is nothing but a ponzi scheme to create a tax bigger then the income tax. Al Gore for your sake I hope you are in an under ground bunker you are a very obvious target. Buy gold and silver and get rid of your dollars as quickly as you can. Get plenty of guns and ammo. You know the targets and there are many to choose from.