editorial comment
South Africa’s insistence that Zimbabwe is facing a crisis that needs urgent intervention should send a clear signal to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government that our neighbours are getting fed up with its delinquency.
Days after Mnangagwa blocked three special envoys sent by his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa from meeting opposition parties and civil society groups on the basis that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe to warrant the interactions, the neighbouring country’s International Relations minister Naledi Pandor delivered a telling response.
Pandor told Radio 786 on Friday that Zimbabwe had an economic and political problem that was impacting its neighbours badly.
She said the only solution for Harare was to open up to South Africa in order for a lasting solution to be found.
Pandor’s reaction came in the face of hysterical denials by both the ruling Zanu PF and government that Zimbabwe was mired in a multifaceted crisis characterised by a tanking economy and gross abuse of human rights.
The angry denials never made any sense for most people, who have been following developments in Zimbabwe, especially since the July 31 protests that were brutally put down by security forces.
Mnangagwa’s war-like statements where he referred to his critics as bad apples, rogues and terrorists also served to amplify the problems facing this country.
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Abductions and arbitrary arrests of journalists, lawyers, opposition and civil society activists were viewed as the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for many concerned about the welfare of Zimbabweans.
As Pandor correctly observed, problems in Zimbabwe will have spill over effects on the country’s neighbours such as South Africa, which is already suffering the burden of taking care of millions of economic refugees running away from the unending strife at home.
The ruinous path that Mnangagwa’s government is taking by closing the democratic space while doing little to address the grievances of those suffering under the weight of a collapsing economy poses a real threat to South Africa’s own stability.
Unlike in the past where the South African government preferred quiet diplomacy in dealing with the Zimbabwean problem, ministers in that country are speaking forcefully in public and they are clear that the situation cannot be allowed to go on as it is.
Their position is understandable because the Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the South African economy and it is increasingly becoming difficult for the government to take care of its citizens, let alone millions of refugees from a neighbour that is refusing to put its house in order.
It is becoming a hard sell for Ramaphosa’s government to defend its inaction over Zimbabwe.
South African citizens themselves are beginning to question their leaders about their dereliction of duty.
Therefore, it would save Mnangagwa and his administration’s best interests to appreciate that South Africa is losing patience.
The honeymoon is over for the “new dispensation”.
