Indeed, when will Africa stop repeating that tired old refrain so beloved by Mugabe which claims that Zimbabwe’s problems are “largely attributable” to the British/the Americans/the whites.

After 3 decades of Mugabe rule, the truth is, scarcely a single Zimbabwean under 40 years of age can even remember life under white rule.

What Zimbabweans have no difficulty remembering is:

(A) the state-sponsored murder of more innocent people under Mugabe’s “peaceful” rule (20,000 - 30,000 in the 1980’s alone) than the lives that were lost on all sides in the liberation war against Ian Smith’s Rhodesian forces, and

(B) 28 years of deafening silence from Mugabe apologists in Africa and the rest of the world.

At last, perhaps, it is time for those African apologists including the ANC to tell Mugabe that his actions are no longer acceptable even in Africa

That is one view, but it is also well known that Tony Blair’s government withdrew funding because the land was being sold for a song to Mugabe’s cronies with the effect that farm workers were displaced and farms became unproductive. Now these same people sell wildlife to hunters ($150 000 for a lion goes some way in Zimbabwe today), but none of them cares for the land, which does not farm or develop itself any more than people can when they start with nothing.

The success of former Zimbabwean farmers in Nigeria and other African countries, is an encouraging pointer for Zimbabwe’s own future: finding creative ways to achieve food security without reverting to colonial land distribution. It is also a tribute to the creativity of these white Africans and their ability to move beyond colonial, racist attitudes, which would get them nowhere in countries such as Zambia or Nigeria.

As a former “Rhodesian” I find a distinct lack of nuance here. At no time in my life growing up there as a “third generation”, did we EVER consider ourselves British. Our parents typically hated Britain!! Whatever the wrongs of former Rhodesia, living there with the sanctions, the war etc caused white Zimbabweans to identify with the land and ultimately many identified with the people of all races as we realised how Smith and his Government/ had duped everybody, and what life had really been like for black Zimbabweans. There is no denying the racial and economic exploitation, but we need something other than textbook theory to account for the complexity of the society inherited by ZANU-PF at the end of the UDI period and the attitudes of the settler class that had evolved over many decades. Some of us are active today in seeking democracy even at risk of life and limb; or are among the politically active diaspora - hardly what one would expect of “colonists”.

Go up to the next grade, ANC, you pass (just). There’s still room for improvement though.

The preamble in the Statement regarding the colonial history, and Britain’s empirical involvement was really uncalled for, unhelpful and irrelevant. It bears no possible relevance to the current crisis, and indeed Mugabe has acted no better than King Leopold of Belgium acted in the 19th Century when he ravaged the Congo’s resources for his own benefit. The British white farmers at least nurtured and cultivated the land that they did pay for, and produced a healthy harvest for the nation.
Not so Mugabe, who has allowed the whole infrastructure of a once prosperous nation to sink to the lowest world level. He distributes what wealth there is amongst a few party and military big-wigs, who salt away their ill-gotten gains from contracts, concessions and double-dealing to God knows where, while millions of Zimbaweans have either had to flee the country to survive or throw in their lot with the declining situation and survive as best they can.

The Statement mentions moral courage, strength and determination. Morgan Tsvangirai and his party have certainly shown all of that. There is not a political party on the face of this earth that has shown an ounce of the moral stamina that the MDC has shown. But the only viable solution in a situation like this is to be found in a complete break with the present set-up of a corrupt regime such as that which Mugabe and Zanu-PF represent. If democracy is to work at all it can not sit down with dictators and expect any concessions from them, especially when they have openly declared war and the threat of elimination of their political opponents. And why should the innocent voting public be pawns in all this? why should a simple resolution for change condemn you to a life of brutal oppression simply because you no longer wish to be governed by the same old despot? Why should you be born a free man or woman in theory, but be a slave in practise? No, the answer is the innocent should not have to suffer like this in the world today. The ANC knows the truth and now can no longer hide from it. Their own country will suffer if they do, indeed it is already suffering, so are other neighbouring countries. The whole of Africa is trying to climb the ladder of democratic change only to be held back by the grasping hands of Mugabe’s intransigence. It is Mugabe himself who has rejected a dialogue with anyone willing to help his country. As long as he remains propped up as leader, there is no hope of a democratic future. The political ideals of the man are just not conducive to democratic principles. The ANC proposes a sane solution to a situation that is far from sane.