[Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela]
Nelson Mandela has been hospitalized for more than a week and South Africans are on edge.
Robert Mugabe has controversially announced a quick July 31 date for elections in Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans are on edge.
Of course South Africans are on edge because they fear losing their beloved Madiba, the man to whom they still look as their lodestar and as the embodiment of their ideals if not South Africa’s current realities, and whose legacy politicians will constantly invoke and fight to claim in the years to come. Zimbabweans are on edge because they remember the 2008 election process, the violence that accompanied it, and the realization that Mugabe doesn’t plan to go anywhere. He sees himself as President For Life and he seems to think that he is immortal.
So once again the region is embroiled in Mugabe-inspired controversy. Anonymous Africa hacked the ANC’s website, blaming South Africa’s ruling party for complicity in enabling Mugabe’s bloody rule.
Even Mandela’s final resting place inspires debate and disagreement.
The two men will forever be placed together in history, Mugabe suffering by the comparison. There is an irony attendant with this juxtaposition. It is hard to recall, but Mugabe was once a liberation hero, and he and Mandela shared an aura. Indeed, once Mugabe was the elder statesman, and he has long resented being usurped by the long-imprisoned ANC leader. Yet usurped he has been. Mandela has been sanctified while Mugabe has been vilified. Both still are focal points in their country, one as an inspiration, the other a malignancy.
I’m heading to South Africa and (airport authorities willing) Zimbabwe after a week in London. As always, I look forward to doing some writing about southern African politics on location, to seeing how Zimbabwe is preparing for the elections, and to getting back to familiar surroundings in South Africa (likely mostly Joburg and Cape Town). I’ll post as often as possible (internet connections willing).