As the world waits to see how things will turn out in Zimbabwe, I draw your attention to this eloquent piece in The Times (of Johannesburg) by Justice Malala. Malala evokes the sorry history of Zimbabwe's decline and then turns the spotlight on South Africa's role:
At this point our children will ask the teacher (perhaps a Zimbabwean who is a naturalised South African): "But what did our parents do? What did South Africa say when all this was happening?"Plain words. (Via Jeff.)And our children will learn that for nine years the president of South Africa pursued a senseless, immoral policy of "quiet diplomacy".
In essence, the policy meant that South Africa chose to be friends with Mugabe, aiding and abetting the dictator while desperate Zimbabweans fled torture and imprisonment.
They will learn that Nelson Mandela, the iconic first president of the new and democratic South Africa, spoke out about leaders who clung to power at the expense of their people and was told to shut up; that Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu spoke up and was vilified by the dictator Mugabe, the South African presidency and its acolytes.