Your editorial (Out of touch as country burns, January 16), argues for SA to play a prominent role in resolving the latest crisis in Zimbabwe. SA, however, has neither the standing nor the inclination to do so.
SA'sculpability for the Zimbabwe crisis extends far beyond quiet diplomacy. The government and the ANC actively aided and abetted Zanu-PF in wrecking property rights in that country, which in turn cleared the way for the destruction of the rule of law.
Throughout the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy, Zanu-PF leaders have received rousing ovations in SA.ANC leaders, government officials and cabinet ministers, many of whom are still in positions of power, spoke loudly in defence of their Zimbabwean colleagues, both here and abroad. Many in the South African media and in civil society provided a following wind by writing about how Zimbabwe’s land policies would bring “justice” to that country, just as they do about the SA government’s expropriation policies today.
You say that Emmerson Mnangagwa is “out of touch”. Another read is that, in stepping out of his country at this time, shutting down the internet, seeking assistance from Russia, and unleashing domestic terror on dissidents, he shows he has a very good sense of the mood on the ground. In addressing the needs of his people, he is certainly out of touch.
But does that distinguish him from the ANC and the SA government? Read the ANC election manifesto and you find state-owned pharmaceutical firms, land expropriation, sovereign wealth funds, more racial edicts and related dirigiste intervention in the economy wherever you look.
None of this is what South Africans need to grow the economy and find jobs. But more than anything else, Zimbabwe’s salvation does not lie in the SA government for the reason that, in its expropriation without compensation policy, our government is championing at home what is in principle the very policy that still lies at the heart of Zimbabwe’s crises.
Frans Cronje, CEO, Institute of Race Relations
