Zimbabwe's destroyer, Robert Mugabe, must go. Now. He long ago ceased being part of any solution to the crisis he has brought on his country - a crisis that has now spilled across the country's borders in the deadly form of a cholera epidemic. African clergymen have led a growing chorus of calls, largely from the West, for his forcible eviction. Yet SA, the regional economic giant and key to the solution, remains mute despite the negative impact of a failed state next door.
The rot that is Zimbabwe today took hold within two years of the euphoria of independence in 1980, when struggle hero and new prime minister Mugabe unleashed his North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on his aggrieved countrymen in the south of the country. There was no attempt to convene a lekgotla, let alone negotiate. Instead, the iron fist of Gukurahandi - the rain that washes away the chaff - was used to crush Matebele dissidence and any hint of a challenge by Joshua Nkomo's Zapu to rule by Zanu's Shona elite. An estimated 20 000 people were butchered. Zanu and Zapu had both fought for freedom against white minority rule. But democratic values and human rights were effectively extinguished in Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1985. SA should beware the dangers of "Zanufication" of the ruling ANC.
The fatal mistake - for which ordinary Zimbabweans as well as neighbouring countries are now paying a high price in starvation, disease and refugees - was that liberation supporters everywhere said nothing about Mugabe's excesses. In particular, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) - a rogues' gallery of despots - turned a blind eye. Mugabe, a shrewd player of the race/imperialism card, continued to be fêted as a champion of anticolonialism. The newly formed regional grouping, the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference, focused solely on reducing the sub-continent's dependence on apartheid SA: it showed no disapproval of incipient dictatorship in Zimbabwe - which was given responsibility for the region's food security! Zimbabwe was, after all, naturally endowed to become the breadbasket of southern Africa. Mugabe had other priorities.
This week Harare declared a national emergency and appealed for international aid in food and medicine - having earlier blamed Britain and the US for the cholera outbreak. Cholera has so far claimed 600 lives including that of seven South Africans and has hit other countries. SA health officials in Musina have found cholera bacteria in the Limpopo River.
Mugabe's exit is long overdue. When men of the cloth such as Desmond Tutu and Archbishop of York John Sentamu call for a head of state to be removed by force if necessary, then the situation must be dire indeed.
How was Zimbabwe allowed to reach this point? While the West was told there had to be African solutions to African problems, any chance of SA intervention was stillborn after the Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha dismissed Nelson Mandela as "the black president of a white country" - Mandela had criticised the death of Ogoni rights activist Ken Sarowiwa at the hands of the Nigerian regime. The OAU's successor, the African Union, though committed to democratic rights and good governance, as well as the new Southern African Development Community, has continued to be ambivalent about Zimbabwe in the face of clear-cut violations of everything it stands for - on paper at least. Excepting Botswana and Zambia, the rest are guilty of moral cowardice. SA policy towards Mugabe under Thabo Mbeki was inexplicable - there could be no advantage to SA in propping up Mugabe, who strung Mbeki along like a ninc ompoop, with no intention whatsoever of reaching a deal with Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, which won the March general elections. Ultimately, the problem has to be fixed inside Zimbabwe.
SA under Kgalema Motlanthe now has two options: do what John Vorster did to pressure Ian Smith by cutting off fuel and supplies; or what Julius Nyerere did by invading Uganda to overthrow the maniacal Idi Amin.
If the first doesn't work, perhaps the second is called for.
