It was only a matter of time following the recent round of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe before the world’s foreign ministers started harrumphing — and insisting in testy tones that South Africa start dealing with its northern neighbour.
Asked about South Africa’s policy of not confronting the Harare government, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, said Robert Mugabe’s regime had only lasted this long because of “certain outside support”.
“We have to put pressure on those [who support Zimbabwe] to up the ante because, frankly, this has turned into an absolute disaster over the years and Mugabe should have gone a long, long time ago,” he said.
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, called on neighbouring countries, particularly South Africa, to do more to halt the violence. “They are the countries that can have influence on Zimbabwe, and we will continue to lobby them to be more decisive in the action they’re taking.”
South Africa’s policy of quiet diplomacy has not succeeded, he said. “The situation in Zimbabwe is going from awful to catastrophic and I have to say there really has to be a much bigger effort from neighbouring countries.”
For its part, the African National Congress (ANC) said it was ‘concerned” about the current situation in Zimbabwe. Party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama reiterated the ANC’s call for all in Zimbabwe to respect and uphold the Constitution and law of the land.
The Democratic Alliance’s spokesperson Douglas Gibson was more forthright. “For South Africa to opine that Zimbabwe must ‘observe the rule of law’ is like telling criminals the same thing and expecting them to behave. South Africa’s quiet diplomacy is an abject failure and it is time that our country made it clear to President Mugabe that he is in no sense a friend.”
Zimbabwe is a vexing question for President Thabo Mbeki. Perhaps he really is engaging with Mugabe behind the scenes. But given the recent savage crushing of Zimbabwe’s opposition, that seems unlikely. On the other hand, what good would it do to condemn the regime publicly? Mugabe would merely dust off some of the choice epithets he usually reserves for British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
To condemn publicly and unequivocally the violent regime would, however, send a signal to Mugabe that Mbeki’s patience was at an end. It would also help if the African Union presented a united front on the issue.
The choice is a simple one for the leader writer of the Financial Times: ‘Get involved now, while the Zimbabwean state can be saved, or get unavoidably involved later.”
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