Is that all you have to say, Mr. Mandela?
Nelson Mandela, then, has finally said something about the situation in Zimbabwe: he's said, precisely, that
we have seen... the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe.
I regret to inform Mr. Mandela that I am unimpressed. These are weak, vague, pathetic words from a man the world has expected so much more from. What exactly is he afraid of? Robert Mugabe tyrannises Zimbabwe now just as the National Party tyrannised South Africa before Mandela's release. What does he say to those imprisoned by Mugabe, many of whom will have supported his struggle? I think he'd be ashamed to look them in the face, because Peter Tatchell is right: he is colluding with Mugabe.
It's difficult to imagine how you could ever come to write this, but it's impossible to avoid wondering how committed Nelson Mandela is to democracy and human rights if this is the best he can do faced with brutal dictatorship. To argue that old loyalties somehow justify his soft-pedalling is to defend moral cowardice: are we really to believe that old comradeship has blinded an old man to the truth, or that sadness makes him speechless?
Unfortunately I suspect Mandela is as little concerned about Zimbabwe as his successor in Pretoria. He has simply said the mimimum he thought he could get away with in order to dampen criticism in the lead-up to his 90th birthday concert. He obviously cares much more about that.
Have your say - join the discussion