Robert Mugabe has taken a once prosperous country and turned it into an impoverish country for his own personal gain

He has surrounded himself with “yes” men and uses intimidation and force to quiet his opposition. He will only listen to his own counsel and is unconcerned about the damage that he has caused to countless other peoples lives.

If Mugabe is removed as president, he could always become a CEO of an American company; he’s already qualified for the job.
Jokes apart, what mugabe is doing currently in Zimbabwe through his sham elections is misuse and abuse of democracy. Despite being the only candidate in last week’s election after Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew in the face of massive violence and intimidation of his supporters, Mugabe claims it was a fair and free election.

The first thing to realise is that Mugabe is a very clever politician. Like many of the most successful politicians, he is a survivor and his main interest is in survival. He is also now tied at the hip to the corrupt and repressive Zanu-PF hierarchy, especially the military that he has both fostered and which is now his only prop to stay in power. Mugabe and Zanu-PF are now gearing up for the end-game, and the “election” is part of their strategy to negotiate from a position of strength.

For Zimbabwe, the question now is how to transfer power from a corrupt, oppressive political-military elite that remains in firm control of the country, to a democratic and inclusive society. South Africa has been in this position before and we have both the recent experience and expertise to help the transition. That is why President Thabo Mbeki’s “quiet diplomacy” is both the only show in town and the only strategy most likely to work. It is an unpleasant fact to have to face, but if an oppressive government cannot be defeated by force of arms or by popular demonstration, then an accommodation must be reached with the dictators while they are still in power. And part of that accommodation is unfortunately that they get out with their money and reputations still intact.

The same thing happened in South Africa.

After the then-Prime Minister PW Botha failed to “cross the Rubicon” in 1984, South Africa erupted into a contained civil war for the rest of the decade. The numbers of United Democratic Front (UDF) supporters dead and in detention steadily rose, the bombing of “soft targets” increased – but there was still no solution to the impasse. While South Africa’s economy collapsed and its isolation increased, the apartheid government remained in control and its military remained undefeated. Something had to give to break the impasse.

The turning point in the transition to a democratic state came when the African National Congress realised that South Africa could not be militarily defeated and that apartheid would have to be negotiated out of existence. What would happen to the leaders of the apartheid government was a major issue in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) negotiations and in the subsequent transition to democracy. The compromise that was agreed eventually was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The deal that was struck was that if apartheid’s hit men and enforcers came clean to the TRC, they would not be prosecuted and would be given amnesty for their past abuses.

Make no mistake, there were many abuses that needed to be confessed. The ANC submission to the TRC estimated that “the human cost (of apartheid) was 1.5million dead through military and economic action, most of them children, while a further four million had been displaced from their homes”. From 1985 to 1989, over 80000 people were detained without trial, of which 10000 were “tortured, assaulted or in some way abused”. Between 1990 and 1993, in the run up to the elections “nearly 12000 civilians were killed and 20000 were injured in thousands of incidents, including several major massacres”.The ANC, to achieve democracy, was forced to accept an accommodation with apartheid’s rulers. And the price of this accommodation was that the big guys got off the hook. Botha, Defence Minister Magnus Malan and others were allowed to thumb their collective noses at the TRC and refuse to testify about their knowledge of death squads or covert operations, while Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock and the other foot-soldiers were sent to rot in jail.

Mugabe is no different, the difference lies in the people of Zimbabwe who are violently, but still, accepting this tyranny of a dictator.