President Thabo Mbeki should just keep his mouth shut, leave Zimbabwe alone and divert his energy towards saving the rand.
Mbeki is so pompous he is now acting god to the suffering Zimbabweans and we should pray to him until we run out of prayers before he can whisper something to Mugabe. After all, it’s called quiet diplomacy. His attitude is that we should be thankful for being neighbours of South Africa and we should behave ourselves lest that privilege be taken away.
Daily reports of state violence, killings and abductions of innocent people are becoming an irritation to you, Mbeki, rather than a reason for action. All you say is: “I have talked to him and he seems not to listen.”
Thank you very much, Mr President. I wish we had said the same to you during your days of struggle. We are tired of your quiet and non-effective diplomacy. We urge you to call it off because we shall not beg you any more.
We have been on our knees for two years, but you are more preoccupied with repatriation of farm labourers back to Zimbabwe (a petty issue) than solving a problem befitting your stature. It is time as a nation we stopped looking for assistance from the the other side of the Limpopo.
It was rather myopic on our part for poor, ordinary, defenceless and brutalised Zimbabweans to call on the might of your country to help us fight a dictator of our own creation.
After an event of equal magnitude in Lesotho, your government did not have time for any diplomacy, loud or quiet, as South African tanks rumbled through the streets of Maseru to restore order and democracy. Today democracy and all its institutions are under severe threat in Zimbabwe but you selectively choose to stand aside.
Perhaps we have not suffered enough or perhaps the number of political deaths so far is still “manageable”, as you once said of the situation in Zimbabwe. Is this what the African Renaissance is about minding one’s own business and lending moral support to a corrupt government which has succeeded in suppressing all known freedoms and basic human rights?
Maybe you are inspired and amused by President Robert Mugabe’s antics and taking lessons on how much punishment people can take before they reach the threshold level and hoping to apply the same prescription to your people at a time convenient to you.
Your non-action has spurred us to realise that it’s none but ourselves who will set us free. We painfully draw some encouragement from your response as we bury our loved ones being killed daily by an inhuman government which has turned against its own people.
With or without your assistance we will fight our own struggle and one day when we have triumphed (and that is inevitable) we will take count of those who fought with us and those who fought against us. Andrew Tsiga, Harare