Lion and the Snake: A Strategic View of South Africa and Zimbabwe

摘要

Both South Africa and Zimbabwe face countless problems and daunting challenges, yet South Africa is a land of promise, while Zimbabwe is a grim failure. A decade ago, the situation appeared to be reversed, with South Africa bleeding from the tribal and political violence of Apartheid's death throes, while Zimbabwe was portrayed internationally as a model of inter-racial cooperation and post-colonial success. The world's focus on the urban turmoil south of the Limpopo River missed South Africa's deep potential and masked Zimbabwe's decline into one-man rule and widespread oppression. The contrast between the two states today is evident to even a casual visitor, with South Africa a land of unmistakable potential and Zimbabwe one of widespread destruction and despair. To an unusual degree, this tale of success and failure in two neighboring countries is also the story of two men: Nelson Mandela, the most inspiring and admirable political figure produced by post-colonial Africa, and Robert Mugabe, a man who almost singlehandedly has destroyed the economy and the social accord of the state that had perhaps the best chance of any of making an early success of independence. Mandela, a man whose treatment by the white regime would have given him plentiful excuses for a temper of retribution, proved greater of soul than any of his enemies and most of his comrades. We may not always like his criticism of us, but we would be craven not to admire his actions. Mugabe, by contrast, proved to be but another in a long line of African strongmen, speaking the language of socialism and liberation, but ruling through savagery, fear and division.