Well, well, well — just when I posit that we have seen relatively few differences between COPE and the ANC here comes a potential whopper. Philip Dexter, a “senior member” (whatever that can possibly mean for a party that has not fully launched yet) of COPE has put forward a position on Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe that departs significantly from that of the ANC in recent years. “From my point of view the only way to solve the Zimbabwe problem at this point is to put enough pressure on Mugabe for him to go. And he should either go voluntarily, or he should go by being forcibly removed. And I think we have to support the Zimbabwean people to achieve that objective.”
Dexter later clarified his position to say that it was his own and not COPE's, and that use of the passive voice, “should go by being forcibly removed” does not necessarily commit COPE to South African-driven action. Still, it is hard not to see this as a potentially vast departure from the ANC's policies toward Mugabe.
