Once upon a time in a far, far away galaxy lived a Dark Lord who was so powerful he fooled people into never attacking him or trying to speak against him. This Dark Lord lived through some good time but many bad times, with some out of his control but the latest bad times were all his doing. He took the people of his beautiful planet hostage and cast a spell on the powerful king in the surrounding planet not to ever attack him in public. This powerful king was quoted on Sunday saying that the Dark Lord’s planet had no problems. This sounds like an episode of Star Trek: Next Generation but this is the real life political soap opera that is the Zimbabwean Election 2008 and the aftermath. The new story plot line being Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa saying that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe.

It sounds like Robert Mugabe is a Dark Lord who casts spells on powerful leaders into making complete fools of themselves for him. Maybe President Mbeki knows something that we don’t know. Maybe he knows that Mugabe will eventually allow the election results to be released and alls-well-that-ends well? NO! I don’t think so. President Mbeki has a ridiculous sense of loyalty to a man who has tarnished and will continue to tarnish his image and legacy for years to come. One can’t imagine what President Mbeki thought when he said there is no crisis in Zimbabwe when the whole of Africa is watching Zimbabwe. He failed to exercise wisdom and tact thus once again taking the attention away from Zimbabwe and putting it on himself.

President Mbeki has once again failed to take positive leadership on Zimbabwe and he looks like Mugabe’s subordinate. Time and time again President Mbeki looks to be an underling of the Mugabe, who continues to hold the Zimbabwean nation hostage. President Mbeki has tried to build a Kwame Nkrumah like Pan-African legacy but Mugabe has tainted this legacy. All the gains Mbeki made in Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi have been blown away by the never ending Mugabe Tsunami. President Mbeki has to save himself and his legacy and tell Mugabe like it is. Zimbabwe is dying because of Mugabe and his cronies. President Mbeki should not hide behind the culture of respecting elders. He should show Mugabe enough respect to tell him that his renegade government is affecting Southern Africa and not in a good way.

Who has ever heard of election results taking more than two weeks to be released? Once again Zimbabwe fails to allow its own people to rule. Unfortunately Zimbabwe is painting a negative picture for all of Africa but there have been African countries that have done democracy well. But until the Dark Lord lifts his spell on those that have the power to change the course of a planet’s destiny will continue to say that there is no crisis on Planet Zimbabwe.