Zimbabwe, Yet Again

I think that the reason that I cover this is because I really don't care about it, but I know that I should. It's kind of funny that way.

Its an important story, and one that should be engaging more of the world than it does, but it does not even engage me.

I'm not sure why, perhaps I'm dismissive of troubles in Africa because so little goes right there, or perhaps, it's a subtle manifestation of my own bigotry.

In any case, we now have Robert Mugabe accusing Morgan Tsvangirai of treason, and, "of working with Britain to oust the President from power," which is, of course, absurd, and it is not a welcome development.

However, there has been some good news, as South Africa is finally calling for the vote results to be releases. Government spokesman Themba Maseko has said, "When elections are held and results are not released two weeks after, it is obviously of great concern."

The question here is whether this is a change in policy from Thabo Mbeki, or a reflection of the rest of the ANC deserting him.

It's clear that Mbeki has been the second biggest impediment to any sort of resolution on this, after Mugabe himself, for years, so I believe that if he has had a "battlefield conversion", it is only because he has seen the writing on the walls.

As to the deeper reason's for Mbeki's enthusiastic boosterism regarding Mugabe, I tend to favor Tapiwa Kapurura's thesis, that Thabo Mbeki in some way finds a personal threat to him or to the ANC in developments in Zimbabwe.

What is going on with the elections in Zimbabwe is that ZANU-PF, a party that is still attached to its revolutionary roots, has lost to the MDC, which is largely a more conventional Labor-type party.

It should be noted that analogy could be made between ZANI-PF and MDC and the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a junior party in the ruling coalition in South Africa.