Our country stands out as a pinnacle of success and hope against a turbulent backdrop of corruption and violence that is the rest of Africa. As stated in a recent column by Mac Maharaj in the Sunday Times (dated June 7th, 2009) , “ [o]ur transition from white minority rule to democracy in 1994 has been hailed as the most successful power-sharing deal in Africa”. This alone, surely, has garnered us respect on a world-stage, and with regard to our African peers. With respect comes power, power to evoke change, to speak and be listened to …

South Africa has taken a stronger stance on Myanmar, asserting that Myanmar must make noticeable changes to the way in which the country is governed, with regard to their lack of basic freedoms, quashing and muzzling of political opponents and their blatant disregard of human rights.

I have a simple question: is the sudden change in attitude displayed by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, with regard to Myanmar, promising and should we expect more interventions of this nature from them or is this step, this crawl, that they have taken merely a prelude to an imminent fall?

In my opinion, these baby-steps are too little, far too late. Why couldn’t we have made a stand like this earlier when the opportunity presented itself right on our collective doorstep? As a result of former President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of ‘quiet diplomacy’, we have blood on our hands – the blood of a nation. South Africa not only had the means, but the power, to intervene in Zimbabwe, before things spiralled so appallingly out of control – where was this apparent show of empathy and compassion when white farmers were forcibly evicted from land they had called home for generations? Where was this concern when Mugabe’s ZANU-PF attempted to kill off supporters of the opposition by threatening them with violence, imprisonment and even starvation?

The current situation in Zimbabwe, the power-sharing between the MDC and the ZANU-PF is tumultuous and rocky, to say the least – this is not necessarily because the system of power-sharing is completely flawed (for example, South Africa has blossomed in its wake). Indeed, power-sharing has become somewhat of a “knee-jerk solution” (as echoed by Mac Maharaj, in the same article); the reason for this can be attributed to the fact that it looks so good on paper – the former ruling party does not get shut out, while the voice of the opposition can also be heard. However, a system like this one, is like a knife; when given to a surgeon or murderer, each will use it differently (as we have seen countless times in the past).

Coming back, is what South Africa has done enough of a step in the right direction? Indeed, can what our Department of International Relations and Co-operation has done even be classified as a step? Aung San Suu Kyi has been muzzled for almost two decades in Myanmar; is this recent development even a stagger?

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