By Tsanga Tutankhamen Shanga
For too long the world in general, and some Zimbabweans in particular, have been hoping against hope that South Africa would play a constructive role in bringing sanity back to the basket case of a country that has been run by the murderous clique called ZANU-PF.
It had been hoped that the ANC-led government would recall the sacrifices made by the Zimbabwean people in the fight that culminated in the demise of the evil apartheid system. Zimbabweans played one of the pivotal roles in the liberation of South Africa. Surely, some form of reciprocity would have been in order.
Furthermore, conventional wisdom says that a stable neighbourhood is good for everyone so much so that each and every member of the community pines for peace. It is a simple dictate. If a hut in the community catches fire, most of the able-bodied members of the community rush to fight the fire.
Common decency commends it and one’s safety demands it. Politically and economically, Zimbabwe has been on fire but the behaviour and the response of the African National Congress have stunningly defied conventional wisdom on common decency.
South Africa is unique in this regard. Rarely in the history of mankind has the leadership of a country tacitly encouraged political and economic mayhem in a neighbouring country. An unstable neighbour poses danger to the adjacent countries.
Thus, the behaviour of the South African government may come across as bizarre when inspected on the surface. Contrary to the notion that instability in the neighbourhood poses danger to the whole community, the ANC tolerates and even subtly encourages political instability in Zimbabwe, it seems.
This Zimbabwean, for one, has never been fooled by the circus show put by Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma. Each successive ANC leader of the South African government has only given an appearance of a genuine peace broker.
Time after time after time, each one of these so-called African leaders has visited Zimbabwe only to be greeted and garlanded by a smiling Robert Mugabe on the airport tarmac, never mind that said Mugabe is the undignified rubble rouser in the mess they seek to arbitrate.
Far be it from me but one does not need to be a rocket scientist to realize that the ANC leadership has been putting one dog-and-pony show after another. Judging from the strategy of repeating the same method despite the fact that the results remain the same, the medical definition of madness, the series of circus shows is never meant to solve the Zimbabwean mess but actually maintain and contain it.
The ANC leadership wants the mess in Zimbabwe to continue while making sure it does not spiral out of control. That, my fellow Zimbabweans, seems to be the motive of the ANC with respect to Zimbabwe.
The peculiar brand of diplomacy played by the ANC-led South African government, which is undermining democracy in Zimbabwe, is motivated by brazen selfishness. When the African National Council of South Africa talks about the brotherhood of all Africans, all you have to do is watch what they do. Do not pay attention to all the empty words.
It may not be mere gainsay to postulate that the ANC is working in cohorts with its industrialists and capitalists to make sure that Zimbabwe remains a basket case. In the short term, it is good for the South African economy and also provides political cover for the ANC government.
When Mbeki, then South African president and arbitrator to Zimbabwean political settlement, said there is no crisis in Zimbabwe and that Zimbabwe is not a South African province, a lot of people were genuinely stunned. At that time, there was a crisis in Zimbabwe. There still is a crisis in Zimbabwe! ZANU-PF is the problem, as identified by the former editor of Talk Zimbabwe.
As for Zimbabwe not being a South African province, of course it never was and never will be a South African province! Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF have made sure that Zimbabwe is actually worse than a province of South Africa. Zimbabwe is a source of supremely educated and highly skilled chattel slaves for South Africa’s farms, mines, financial industry, hospitals and public sector.
Julius Malema may have a name that calls him multiple fools but he openly acknowledged a self-evident truth that he may have heard whispered or openly discussed behind closed doors in Sandton. That truth is that Zimbabweans are highly educated, although Julius Multiple Fools gives credit to Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe.
The politically connected Malema knows that Zimbabwean slaves now make a key component of the South African economy. Even Julius Multiple Fools accepts it would all end if Mugabe and ZANU-PF leave the seat and corridors of power in Zimbabwe hence his call for the continued support of ZANU-PF.
Hunger in the country of plenty, never-ending danger and a lingering shadow of death cast by ZANU-PF have condemned Zimbabweans to a life of toiling as slaves in foreign lands. When Zimbabwe is rid of Mugabe and ZANU-PF, her children will be emancipated from bondage.
There will be an exodus as the Zimbabweans go back home en masse to rebuild their homeland to even more dizzying greatness and glory to surpass her proud past. It is a prospect that does not bode very well for South Africa.
Within the business world, South Africa is projected as one of the countries whose economy will grow in leaps and bounces. MAVINS is the acronym of the countries. South Africa is endowed with huge reserves of natural wealth but it will definitely need a huge pool of skilled, innovative and educated human resources. That supply is ready-made and cheaply available from north of the Limpopo River.
It is unimaginable that South Africa would be viewed so favourably were its economy dependent on the undependable and comparatively uneducated South African labour force. Zimbabweans domiciled and eking out a living in South African have made that country a highly attractive and promising economy force.
The fortunate South African government did not have to spend a single Rand to educate the Zimbabwean slaves. Mugabe did that for them and they are reaping the rewards many times over. There should be little wonder that investors are salivating at the prospect of making huge financial windfalls by investing in the emerging economic power.
South African businessmen, the biggest beneficiaries of the toils of the Zimbabwean slaves must fear this potential loss of such cheap skilled labour. One can imagine the business leaders making a pilgrimage to meet the South African president and fearfully telling him not to deport the Zimbabwean kaffirs. “We need them because Mugabe’s kaffirs are more educated, more skilled and more hardworking than our pleasure-loving kaffirs who are allergic to work.”
Once and for all, let us tell the truth and be done with it! For South Africa’s economy to grow and prosper, it will need the educated and skilled Zimbabweans forced into slavery by ZANU-PF. That, sons and daughters of the soil, is the apparent reason behind South Africa’s weird brand of failed diplomacy. It does not matter who is leading the country because South African interests necessitate the continuance of the political impasse in Zimbabwe.
When Mbeki engaged in his strange quite diplomacy, some averred the conspiratorial and illogical theory that he might have received a mine or farm in Zimbabwe. Wait until he is booted out of office, we heard, South Africa will be tough on Mugabe. I did not believe it one bit of it.
Some saw hope in Motlanthe’s ascension to power after Mbeki lost the power struggle against the singing, dancing and openly polygamous Jacob Zuma. As part of a COSATU delegate, Motlanthe had been humiliatingly deported from Zimbabwe by Mugabe. So, it was thought, Motlanthe would still be smarting from the humiliation and be tougher on Mugabe who had forced him leave with his tail tucked between his legs.
Motlanthe’s approach was not that different from that of Mbeki, notwithstanding the personal indignity he had suffered at the hand of Mugabe. For the good of his country, the personal insults Motlanthe suffered were swallowed. It was more important to make sure that Mugabe remained intransigent so that the South African economy’s supply of Zimbabwean slaves was not disrupted.
Then Jacob Zuma came to power making a lot of noise about being tough with Robert Mugabe. In some circles he was touted as the tough Zulu warrior who was going to take care of Mugabe once and for all. Once in power, the South African business community must have warned him on the dangers of getting rid of Mugabe. It is now back to the same peculiar brand of diplomacy.
The idea of designating the South African head of state as a pointman to steer Zimbabwean democracy towards the path of normalcy as the genesis of the economic revival and growth of Zimbabwe into a prosperous nation was misguided from the beginning. There are deeply disturbing signs of a huge conflict of interest.
The Zimbabwean people have the right to ask the pressing question, viz.: Is the ANC-led South African government is deliberately undermining Zimbabwean democracy so that it can benefit from the cheap pool of skilled labour supplied by the desperate citizens of Zimbabwe?
