It is hardly a surprise that many wonder what Mr Mugabe’s involvement
in Mrs Tsvangirai’s death might have been, even though the Foreign
Office claims to believe it was an accident. After all, Mr Mugabe has a
record of killing opponents, and the fake car crash is a tactic he has
used in the past. Whether or not it was a failed attempt to eliminate
his new prime minister, Mr Mugabe deserves blame. His insistence that
he, not the prime minister, should control the police meant that a
country’s head of government drove without a police escort. In most
countries, that would have been inconceivable, but in Zimbabwe the
prime minister is evidently expendable.
And so Zimbabwe’s terrible decline continues. This is unnecessary:
South Africa, the regional power, could impose considerable influence
on Zimbabwe’s politics. It provides economic life support to its
neighbour, which now wants a $1 billion loan to rebuild farms,
hospitals and schools. Yet South Africa has been unwilling to confront
Mr Mugabe’s assault on democracy in any meaningful way. This is despite
an influx of Zimbabwean refugees flowing across its border, desperate
to escape a cholera outbreak and a brutal president. Mr Mugabe must go,
but until South Africa is willing to stand up to him, Zimbabwe will
continue to be a pariah state.
Daily Telegraph (UK)
Post published in: News