African Solutions?

As the conflict in Zimbabwe worsens, with Mugabe’s police beating nurses and doctors who dared to protest a dangerous cholera epidemic and their own abysmal working conditions, the international outcry has come from predictable quarters. British PM Gordon Brown has called on Mugabe to resign (video here), U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice has said it is “well past time” for Mugabe to go, and the Washington Post editorial board has also called on Mugabe to step down. But now it is time for more Africans to speak up, and they could make the critical difference. South Africa’s diffidence in dealing with Mugabe continues to a tragedy, and voices such as Desmond Tutu’s have been a brave minority. Refreshingly, Botswana’s Foreign Minister recently told reporters that the Southern African Development Community should never have recognized Mugabe after the recent election. He’s right. With Zimbabwe in a sharp downward spiral, the time has come for South Africa too to admit that enough is enough.