This is a country that fought long and hard for democracy; yet our President's approach of quiet diplomacy to the Zimbabwe crisis seems too quiet for credibility. Has his passion for democracy cooled? Or is he just at a loss as to how to handle the man that noboby else seems to know how to handle either?
It is not only Mbeki who is strangely quiet in this regard. There doesn't seem to be any real, effective pressure from anywhere outside of Zimbabwe. A lot of movement, a lot of concern, but effective pressure?
I feel that Jacob Zuma made a valid point when he spoke to Reuters in Berlin on Tuesday: (Mail & Guardian report 22nd April, 2008.)
He is reported as saying:"It's not acceptable. It's not helping the Zimbabwean people who have gone out to ... elect the kind of party and presidential candidate they want, exercising their constitutional right." He went on to say: "I don't think the Constitution says: 'If you like, you can hold the results'. The electoral commission must issue the results because it is actually destroying its own credibility as an institution that is supposed to be neutral."
Is there anyone out there who feels that a result coming out now, or worse, later, would be genuine? I don't.
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