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ANC Supports Mugabe, Plays MDC For Fools

Jan Lamprecht - 7/22/2005

Is Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC a fool himself or is he just surrounded by fools as advisors? Or does a secret cabal of Robert Mugabe's infiltrators interfere with the decision-making of the Movement for Democratic Change?

I find it extremely hard to believe that the South African government is going to save Zimbabwe. Everyone knows South Africa has the power to save Zimbabwe, and I find myself continually reminding people that the ANC is not what it appears to be. They are every bit as fake as Robert Mugabe. The ANC is quite happily supporting and endorsing what the Zimbabwean government is doing. Why, for example, haven't we heard official protests out of South Africa about the evictions in Zimbabwe? It’s been a headliner in all South African newspapers across the country. It’s been on every radio and TV news bulletin. Everyone in South Africa knows about Mugabe's despicable acts of the last few weeks. Our church leaders have protested. So why is our government silent?

We did hear, in the past, the Labor Minister from South Africa lauding "Land Reform" in Zimbabwe, and saying that "we could learn from Zimbabwe how to do it!"

Former SA Ambassador to Zimbabwe was on SABC-TV news recently talking about "Quiet Diplomacy". He said things along the lines of: "Yes, we liaise quietly with the Zimbabwean government all the time..." He really made it sound as if there was lots of quiet cooperation. Quiet diplomacy is nothing other than quiet support for Mugabe.

Zimbabwe could rot in hell for all the ANC cares. Mugabe could kill millions of Black Zimbabweans and the South African government wouldn’t care. The ANC is completely unmoved by the human suffering in that country.

If there were any uprising in Zimbabwe, which truly threatened Mugabe's power base, the very next morning, you would see South African armored vehicles, helicopters and aircraft streaming into Zimbabwe to prop up Mugabe's regime.

Do you remember how under the South Africa invaded Lesotho a few years ago? Overnight armored vehicles were busy shooting in the Lesotho capital. Don't think that the ANC's trigger finger isn't functioning. You'll see it function the minute the ANC feels Mugabe is in danger.

The ANC has said in the past that it supports "regional stability" with regard to Zimbabwe. What this means is that they support Mugabe and are not interested in regime change. Mbeki has said this to George W. Bush to his face.

If Tsvangirai and the MDC are waiting for the South African government to come riding in on a white horse to save them, they're going to be waiting until eternity. It will not happen.

But what has happened in the past is that Mugabe and Mbeki have played the MDC for fools by leaking lies and deliberately creating false hopes. They have made a few simple posturing moves which created false expectations of hope among members of the opposition, which were quashed as soon as international pressure subsided.

What the MDC does not seem to realize is that Mugabe is busy destroying them, and trying to stamp out the last bit of support for them.

The MDC will be dead if they continue to live with their heads in the clouds thinking that:

a) Mugabe can be brought down through the ballot box.
b) The ANC really supports true democracy in Zimbabwe.
c) The ANC actually cares about the suffering of Black people in Zimbabwe.
(The people of South Africa have yet to make the shocking discovery that the ANC doesn't care about democracy here either, but that's another story!)

Until the MDC adjusts to the reality, they will continue to fail, and be outmaneuvered by Mugabe and Thabo Mbeki who manage, with relative ease, to play one confidence trick after another on the MDC and to leave them empty-handed, looking like idiots each time.