African Tears

Robert Mugabe is at war with his own people. Bishop Tutu called him a Frankenstein. Morgan Tsvangirai is in asylum at the Dutch Embassy in Harare the capital of Zimbabwe. The Security Council at the United Nation is discussing the matter -- but what can they do? African leaders utter condemnations -- but Mugabe owes them nothing.

All eyes turn to Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, the leader of the most powerful government in Africa. Mbeki is the one man who can do something about this, but he will not.

A part of Mbeki supports the deep racial hatred of Robert Mugabe, who blames the old British colonials for every recent harm.

David Maritz,a resident of Camano Island, but with strong family roots in Zimbabwe, wrote this:

"It will change when the useless Thabo Mbeki is out of power and stops keeping Mugabe in power."

Maritz also said, "The ultimate strength of a democracy is a vibrant middle class. It is the buffer that keeps the upper class from turning the lower classes into powerless starving masses as Mugabe has done. Mugabe can buy most of the masses with a bag of mealie meal and beat up the rest."

But it is the very middle class professionals -- doctors, businessmen, teachers, nurses -- who have fled the country.

It is also very possible that the crisis will destabalize South Africa. Already millions of Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa and there have been mass riots and killings by angry South Africans who are unwilling to share their resources.

It is a wonder that Mbeki does nothing when his own country might suffer so drastically.

But Mugabe, at age 84, did say that only God can remove him from office. Africans are strong believers in the power of prayer and many have beseeched the Almighty for this very thing.