President's brother condemns Zimbabwe policy
By Basildon Peta in Johannesburg
Published: 21 April 2007
The South African President Thabo Mbeki's softly-softly approach to Zimbabwe has earned a withering rebuke from his own brother, Moeletsi, who has condemned South Africa's ruling class for being the major obstacle to saving Zimbabwe from collapse. Mr Mbeki, who is a wealthy businessman who sits on the boards of various organisations, and is an analyst for one of Africa's largest banks, described his brother's policy as "a do- nothing scenario while appearing to be doing a lot". He spoke as President Mbeki vowed to maintain his quiet-diplomacy approach on Zimbabwe. Mr Mbeki was not impressed. President Mbeki was last month chosen by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate in Zimbabwe with a specific mandate to ensure next year's elections are free and fair. But he has maintained a deafening silence despite an outcry over electoral measures by Mr Mugabe. Delivering a lecture at the University of Pretoria's Centre for International Political Studies' Africa Dialogue series on Thursday, Moeletsi Mbeki described "South Africa's political elite" as the main "obstacle" to any efforts to save Zimbabwe from collapse. He said the South African government was doing so little to save Zimbabwe because the narrow interests of its ruling elite were not affected. It was the poor masses in South Africa who were bearing the brunt of Zimbabwe's collapse as they competed with millions of illegal immigrants for jobs and services. A quarter of Zimbabwe's population has fled to South Africa to escape poverty and deprivation at home, and illegal immigration is said to have increased dramatically since 11 March, when Zimbabwean police assaulted opposition leaders and kick-started a state sponsored orgy of violence against opposition officials. The President's brother said the national interest of ordinary South Africans was to see the restoration of Zimbabwe's economy to stop the influx of immigrants. He said that South Africa's ruling elite was propping up the Zimbabwean regime by calling it a democratic government when it was clearly a dictatorship. He even suggested that use of force by South Africa to save Zimbabwe from collapse was an option because of the dangers that a collapsed Zimbabwe posed to its neighbour. Mr Mbeki also partly attributed the Zimbabwe crisis to the "neo-states" left behind by the Western colonial powers after they were granted independence. He said: "The South African government needs to show a lot more energy in dissuading Zanu PF [Zimbabwe's ruling party] from brutalising the opposition. We need to send a message across that an opposition in a democratic country has a right to exist and has the right to participate in activities." It is unlikely that President Mbeki, who has repeatedly vowed to maintain quiet diplomacy instead of counterproductive "megaphone diplomacy" will take his brother's advice.
