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I have taken note of these reports and looking back over the last two weeks, you have to agree with me that my scepticism was (and is) justified.
Take the following paragraph in your supplied article dated 22 April as an example:
“In a private meeting with Mbeki, Mugabe agreed to order war veterans to end their occupation of farms, hold free and fair elections and tone down his inflammatory rhetoric.”
Today (2 May) the farms are still being occupied, opposition activists are still being tortured, maimed and murdered and the opposition still has no access to the state controlled electronic media.
During the Apartheid years we were frequently told that things are being done "behind the scenes", negotiations were taking place "behind the scenes" and criticism of the government is based on ignorance because of a lack of knowledge of what is happening "behind the scenes". This latest "behind the scenes" backslapping doesn't convince me of anything.
The Orwellian Newspeak reference to Mugabe as a "champion of the rule of law" is utterly laughable in the light of his ignoring of high court orders to stop these illegal occupations. Not only is he ignoring the courts, constitution and popular will of the electorate, but his party is actually bankrolling the destabilization campaign as well as providing its logistical support.
Even the most casual of observers recognize the fact that the current chaos has very little to do with the redistribution of land. In spite of all the election fraud and gerrymandering committed by his party during the referendum - that was supposed to be his pre-election trump card - he was handsomely defeated. It was clear that his party was about to be annihilated at the next general election.
His subsequent actions are merely the last desperate attempts of a power hungry third world despot, hell-bent on retaining political power, no matter what the cost. The total economic destruction of his country is a price he will gladly pay in order to steal another term in office.
The bottom line is that whatever President Mbeki is doing “behind the scenes” is not working. It is important for our government to decide quickly what is more important: The sensitivities of a madman, or an open course of action that will help foreign investors differentiate between the average banana republic and us.
Economic observers already claim that South Africa’s projected growth rate of 3.5% this year will now probably come down to 1,5%.
Quite frankly we cannot afford such diplomatic mismanagement.
Looking forward to your reply
The original email was sent to the GCIS 28 April 2000. They never responded
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