Zimbabwe this fraud “election day”

The AP reports on what it calls "Zimbabwe’s 1-candidate runoff."

VOA ledes with “EU: Zimbabwe's Runoff Vote a Meaningless Sham."

BBC World News just headlined: "Voters snub 'sham' Zimbabwe poll"

At the WaPo-Newsweek blog PostGlobal under the lede "Hold South Africa responsible for Zimbabwe’s mess," journalist Njoroge Wachai posted today an op-ed which friends pointed out to me as making more sense about Zimbabwe’s problems than most of what we read in the Western press. Here’s some of what Wachai’s saying, followed by my brief comments below the star line.

…Considering the manner in which Mugabe is thumbing his nose at the international community, including the UN, it’s unlikely that Zimbabweans, who are already terrified of challenging this dictator, can sort out the mess in their country on their own. International intervention is necessary, from anyone who purports to care about democracy and human rights.

This possibility, unfortunately, is being fervently opposed by none other than Zimbabwe’s powerful neighbor - South Africa. South Africa stands accused of deliberate dereliction of its duty to solve the Zimbabwe crisis.

South Africa has betrayed Zimbabweans by handling Mugabe with children’s gloves. Its president, Thabo Mbeki, has refused to speak forcefully and firmly against Mugabe even while he encourages his supporters to kill and main innocent Zimbabweans.

South Africa’s soft handling of the Zimbabwean situation is perplexing. South Africa has time and again demonstrated its readiness to pick fights with countries willing to speak for millions of Zimbabweans, whom Mugabe and his thugs continue to terrorize.

Mbeki has been massaging Mugabe to talk peace instead of demanding that he stop making a mockery of democracy. He has adopted a wink-wink strategy in resolving the Zimbabwean crisis. At one time, he discounts the existence of a crisis in Zimbabwe. At another time, he lies to the world that he’s doing everything he can to bring peace to Zimbabwe.

When countries such as the U.S., Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, and Australia demand Mugabe respect the Zimbabwean people’s right to choose a president, Mbeki declares they’re ill-suited for the job because they’re outsiders.

When outrage towards Mugabe reaches a crescendo, South Africa -- through the African National Congress (ANC) -- warns against international intervention. It goes further to tie such calls to the dark era of colonization. This is how the ANC puts it: “No colonial power in Africa, least of all Britain in its colony of ‘Rhodesia’, ever demonstrated any respect for these (democratic and human rights) principles.”
What a flawed argument.

What do relics of colonialism have to do with Mugabe’s refusal to accede to an electoral defeat?

Invoking “colonialism” is a diversionary ploy. South Africa and Mugabe hope this colonial legacy will force other African countries to temper their criticism of Zimbabwe. But the world isn’t full of nincompoops. (Let’s hope not. - JinC)

Had the world listened to Mbeki and Mugabe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, and Haiti -- all of which owe their political stability to outside intervention -- would still be burning today.

Perhaps the world is mistaken to think that South Africa is a model of democracy in Africa. Fourteen years is too short a time to make such a conclusion.

South Africa, through its discredited and ineffective quiet democracy, has failed to persuade Mugabe to postpone elections. Now that Mugabe has defied Mbeki, what next?

Grass will certainly grow beneath our feet if we wait for Mbeki to produce a resolution to the Zimbabwean crisis. It’s time the world looked elsewhere.

Already, many African countries have condemned Zimbabwe. The African Union (AU), still, can move mountains without South Africa. It can, for instance, refuse to recognize Mugabe. Countries disenchanted with Mugabe can even severe diplomatic ties with Zimbabwe until a free and fair election is held.

Now is the time to remind Mugabe that he’s a dark horse.

Njoroge’s entire op-ed post’s here.
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Comments:

Given my limited knowledge of “the situation on the ground,” Njoroge’s words can speak here for themselves except I’ll add people who I respect and who know something about “the ground” say Njoroge’s gotten to the heart of the matter by pointing the finger at Mbaki and South Africa.

They also say he’s performing a brave and crucial service for Zimbabweans by tossing down the gauntlet to those African leaders who shout “colonialism” as an excuse to keep Western nations from joining with those African nations which have the will and ability to bring about desperately needed changes in Zimbabwe.

More soon on Zimbabwe

Hat tip to you all who have provided information and commentary on Zimbabwe, most especially Danvers who’s “on the ground.”