Has anyone ever tried to be tough with Robert Mugabe and really succeeded? Our history of Zimbabwe seems to suggest Mugabe always gets what he wants and always seem to know how to get things to go his own way. Many have tried to remove him from power and failed and have ended up joining him instead. News from South Africa suggest that President Zuma will begin his state visit to Zimbabwe with a message to President Mugabe to curb his “deviant behaviour” and work together with Morgan Tsvangirai in the power-sharing government.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki was often criticised for his “quite diplomacy”, in fact many Zimbabweans blame him for the stolen election of March 2008. In contrast to his predecessor, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe is quoted as saying: “President Zuma will be more vocal in terms of what we see as deviant behaviour.”
According to the Times Online: Asked to define such behaviour, Mr Mantashe said that it included the conduct of last year’s presidential run-off election, which was marred by violence against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and the continuing harassment of allies of Morgan Tsvangirai, now Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister.
Will Jacob Zuma’s tough talk succeed where Thabo Mbeki’s ‘quite diplomacy’ spectacularly failed to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis? Will the tough stance be the final saviour of the Zimbabwean people from all these years of suffering?
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