| There goes Africa’s chance to become important |
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| Written by Daniel Steinmann | ||||
Page 2 of 2
For South Africa, the stakes are somewhat higher. Expanding their
economic presence in the rest of the continent is an undertaking they
engaged with great energy over the past ten years. But South Africa is
about to have its own future determined this Saturday, not by anything
the SA leadership does or will do, but by their inability to
constructively engage the political crime in Zimbabwe.Perhaps this has to do with the rampant crime in South Africa. The statistics are overwhelming yet every so often some imbecile in a party position or a government apparatchik claims there is no crime or it is not a problem. Then the grassroots population, itself destitute, erupts and take it out on any person viewed as not belonging there. This we have witnessed vividly over a period of three weeks. Crime seems to be a way of life in South Africa, so why bother when a murderer is killing a few thousand of his own kin, there are too many of us in any case. If their ability to control their own rampant crime is non-existent, how can one expect them to relieve a neighbouring criminal from his power base? The news was abuzz last week in SA that the real reason for Mbeki failing to exercise any discipline at all over his killer uncle is economic. An anonymous radio caller, claiming to have worked on this case as an intelligence operative, said Mugabe and Mbeki are co-shareholders in a Congolese mine, hence the reluctance we have seen on the SA president’s side. I am not in a position to verify the truth of this claim, but I received a mail during the week showing four different photographs at four different events, where Mbeki was holding Mugabe’s hand. Now that is a high score for silent diplomacy. “You write me my dividend cheque and I’ll make sure either SADC or the African Union never gets round to string a rope around your neck.” Whether it is Mbeki or Zuma to assist in bringing Mugabe down, that is irrelevant. What matters is that South Africa has just lost a part of its sphere of influence on the continent. I believe South Africans will still regret this mistake as they helplessly watch their African influence grow weaker and weaker, thereby eventually closing the door for all its major companies to do business anywhere in Africa. Meanwhile, both the Indian and Chinese governments are implementing very active African strategies, competing to be first in many countries with political solidarity as well as the establishing of economic opportunities for their vast industries. And they are not going to ask the South African government for permission to grow their own trade. They will simply carry on taking over the territories we have forfeited. |
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