The careers of two of Africa’s most prominent politicians — Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela — have striking similarities. Both were born in an era when white power prevailed throughout Africa, Mandela in 1918, Mugabe in 1924. Both were products of the Christian mission school system. Both attended the same university, Fort Hare in South Africa. Both emerged as members of the small African professional elite, Mandela a lawyer, Mugabe a teacher. Both were drawn into the struggle against white minority rule, Mandela in South Africa, Mugabe in neighboring Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Both advocated violence to bring down white-run regimes. Both endured long terms of imprisonment, Mandela, 27 years, Mugabe, 11. Both suffered the anguish of losing a son while in prison, and both were refused permission to attend the funeral.
But whereas Mandela used his prison years to open a dialogue with South Africa’s white rulers in order to defeat apartheid, Mugabe emerged from prison bent on revolution, determined to overthrow white society by force. Military victory, he said, would be the “ultimate joy.”
Ironic, then, that South Africa is Mugabe’s biggest booster.
Jeffersonian,
And we can look for South Africa to follow the same path as Zimbabwe. It’ll probably take a bit longer, but the ANC has the same mindset as the ZAPU-NF
As it happens, Evan, I read an interesting blurb from Jerry Pournelle this morning about South Africa:
[blockquote]For an exceptional look at what happens to countries where the overall energy policies are dictated by imbeciles, lackwits, and lawyers (although I may be redundant in listing all three), look to South Africa, formerly an economic and industry powerhouse (pun intended) on the African continent. The country is now in a deepening economic crisis because they let all of the released inmates from the environmental asylum dictate policy, didn’t build new power plants or maintain the existing ones appropriately, and so now they can’t mine gold, platinum, and palladium at anything near normal production rates. A good part of the recent run ups on those metals’ prices is because of the reduced production. There are rotating power outages around the country for everyone, and SA industry is being reined in significantly, obviously reducing the quality of living for the ordinary person.[/blockquote]
#3.
No surprise there. And crime has skyrocketed. Whenever the government is called to account on such things, Mbeki blames the whites, yet he is silent about his chum Mugabe’s outrages. Similarly, in Namibia, the SWAPO government has asked Mugabe to send them some of his “land reform” experts to advise them! The only sane government left in Southern Africa seems to be Botswana which just had a change of administrations, the most recent in an unbroken line since independence.