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Image via WikipediaCodrin Arsene writes:

Zimbabwe is a clear case of African diplomatic failure. And to be more precise, it is a case of South African failure. In the last 10 years, since the people of Zimbabwe have been experiencing worse and worse conditions of living, hyperinflation and the loss of their jobs, South Africa vehemently opposed any international sanctions on Zimbabwe. Even now, when the whole world is crying out loud against the situation in Zimbabwe, president Mbeki still believes that his quiet diplomacy will end up the crisis:...[continue reading]

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• Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe warned by Thabo Mbeki at African Union summit

Alex Duval Smith writes in the Guardian:

An astounding lack of political delivery surrounds the South African crisis. Neither Mbeki nor his likely successor, Jacob Zuma, have altered their diaries in the past week to visit the displaced or speak to the nation. Instead, ministers, police chiefs and senior civil servants have put their energy into a two-pronged exercise of denial, aimed at proving that the attacks are linked neither to poverty nor to xenophobia. The intention is clearly to deflect any accusations that Mbeki's 'quiet diplomacy' over Zimbabwe has led to an uncontrollable influx of foreigners and, thus, to xenophobia. Neither will the ANC tolerate suggestions that it has neglected its own poor...Established immigrants see the start of a worrying trend. 'Either there is government complicity, and that is unconscionable, or the government does not know how to react,' said writer Alois Rwiyegura, from Burundi, himself the survivor of an attack nine years ago. 'If the South African government does not know what to do, then how will it react if - as many of us fear - the violence degenerates into inter-ethnic clashes between poor South Africans?'

Other Coverage:
In a related article African Path reports on South Africa's "Ethnic Cleansing"
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem writes about the danger to South African Interests across the continent.
Nanja Boy highlights the potential risks to South African Businesses in Nigeria

Moeletsi Mbeki author of the recently published Architects of Poverty discusses the flawed capitalism practiced in the continent.Regarding the elite:

They have no capital like a typical bourgeoisie. They don't create wealth; they are a parasitic elite that lives off the existing assets which they didn't create.It is the same with the BEE tycoons in South Africa. They are living off the assets handed to them by existing companies. They are not a bourgeoisie; yes, they are wealthy but they are not capitalists.

More here.
Watch panel which includes Moeletsi Mbeki discuss the topic on CNBC:

via Annansi Chronicles

The WSJ writes:

There is blood on the streets in southern Africa once more, and the white colonial legacy of economic iniquity is again trotted out for blame. The real culprits, however, are Zimbabwe's octogenarian strongman Robert Mugabe and his South African enabler Thabo Mbeki...Mobs in Johannesburg's poor districts have gone on a rampage the past fortnight, attacking migrant workers and their families. The death toll rose to 42 yesterday; 16,000 people have been displaced. Next door in Zimbabwe, in the wake of an election, opponents of the Mugabe regime are beaten up, driven out of their homes and killed.
The two cases aren't linked in the media coverage, but they are inseparable. Each is rooted in Mr. Mugabe's destruction of Zimbabwe. For his part, President Mbeki has for years propped up the dictator in Harare, through March's presidential elections and the ensuing violence, with his "quiet diplomacy." Mr. Mbeki leaves office next year, though pressure grows daily for him to go sooner. The riots in Johannesburg that jolted this sophisticated and prosperous country are a tragic, but fitting, coda to his waning presidency.

The NYTimes writes:

Under Mr. Mbeki’s leadership, the fruits of the nation’s hard-fought victory over apartheid have gone mainly to officials and former officials of the ruling African National Congress, not to the millions of poor people in the townships who faced down the dogs, the bullets and the pass laws and still must live without adequate jobs, education, housing or health services.
The resulting frustration and anger helps explain, though it cannot justify, this week’s outbreak of xenophobic violence in the shantytowns. At least 42 victims have been killed — many beaten, stabbed, hacked or burned to death — and some 25,000 have been chased from their homes.

The Economist writes:

If Mr Mbeki had an iota of honour or courage or sense, he could have squeezed Mr Mugabe out of power several years ago—just as South Africa's leaders pulled the plug on the nastily bigoted Rhodesian regime of Ian Smith three decades ago, albeit after succouring it for far too long. Most of the other leaders in southern Africa—with a few notable exceptions, including Jacob Zuma, Mr Mbeki's rival and possible successor—have been equally feeble and downright dishonest. By failing to come together to denounce Mr Mugabe unequivocally, they have not only prolonged Zimbabwe's agony; they have damaged the whole of southern Africa, both materially and in terms of Africa's reputation.

Image via Wikipedia From the Economist:

A LITTLE over half a year after Thabo Mbeki was ousted as president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), worries are growing about the party’s new leadership and where it may take South Africa after a general election due next year. Arguments still rage over the corruption charges facing the new leader, Jacob Zuma, who is likely to replace Mr Mbeki as the country’s president. An unseemly fight within the ANC across the country is denting people’s confidence in their rulers...[continue reading]

Update-Decoding the Decoding the revolutionary rhetoric of the new ANC

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Thabo Mbeki remains true to type-spineless- the Telegraph reports:

"I wouldn't describe that as a crisis. It's a normal electoral process in Zimbabwe. We have to wait for ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) to release (the results),"

Ethiopundit writes:

The US is very upset about Robert Mugabe's behavior and is about to expand sanctions against Mugabe Inc. for being an "illegitimate" government that just won a "sham election". The Queen has even taken away his knighthood while the world's moralizing voices in the press and power that don't feel the silly tug of 'third world solidarity' are speaking up as well. While Mbeki remains as loyal to Mugabe as Mugabe is to Mengistu, Mandela has spoke up as well. Even Kenya has urged the AU to suspend him.
But ... in a sense it is so dreadfully unfair to Mugabe isn't it? What did Mugabe ever do since he became Africa's designated bad guy about eight years ago that Meles has not been doing for seventeen years now? Let us go through the list shall we...[continue reading]

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Kofi Akosah-Sarpong responds to Y. Fredua-Kwateng's question "Are you an internalist or externalist? "...there is no internalist or externalist in the Ghana/African development process debate, there is the confused African elite not trying to grasp all the factors that have contributed to Africa's so-called "agonies," including the long-running exclusion of deeper implications of the African culture in both local and international development planning or thinking in Africa's development process.The Internalists came about because for uncritically long time African elites, for their own benefits against the peoples upkeep, which demonstrated their weaknesses, had blamed the continent's problems on external factors alone without looking at the internal factors that have also contributed to the continent's problems. "Imperialism, Down with Imperialism," said the largely the Externalists' slogans of the 1960s against today's Internalists rantings such as the Dr. George Ayittey-minted "African Solutions for African Problems," which opened up the African development process debate, both locally and internationally, by incorporating the Interenalists' stance. The Internalists are not saying Ghanaians/Africans should separate the internal factors such as predatory elites that have slowed down Africa's progress from the external forces such as the impact of colonialism; what they are saying is that in discussing Africa's problems we have to take note of the internal factors too so as to have fuller understanding of the continent's problems, especially in making policies. This is what South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki is saying in his "African Renaissance" project, and other thinkers such as Dr. George Ayittey, of American University in Washington D.C., and myself are advocatng...",GhanaWeb.

The FT editorial page writes about the incoming SA president, Jacob Zuma:

Mr Zuma has yet to show he has the backbone to do what is good for the country’s long-term health rather than what is politically expedient. Six months of uncertainty lie ahead before elections, a period in which he and the “new” ANC have much to prove...[continue reading]

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• Unease at Africa's Tip
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Brill's overview of George Ayittey's Indigenous African Institutions-2nd edition:

Since the publication of the first edition of Indigenous African Institutions in 1992, Africa has undergone a substantial change. Still, much mythology and misconception enshroud Africa and its people. An enduring myth claims that pre-colonial Africa had no viable institutions. This book is an attempt to provide a better, modern understanding of Africa and its people – not for cultural rehabilitation or romanticism but for practical reasons.
Traditional or indigenous Africa has not vanished; it is still the home of the real people of Africa – the peasant majority, who produce Africa’s real wealth using ancient institutions and practices. Kings, chiefs, and village markets still exist in Africa.
The object of development is to improve the lot of the peasants – not the pockets of Africa’s ruling elites – and it starts from the “bottom up” – not from the “top-down.” What is there at the bottom are the peasants, their institutions, practices, and economic ways of life. Africa cannot be developed by ignoring its traditional sector, nor can this sector be developed without understanding how it works. Africa’s salvation, then, lies in returning to its roots and building upon its own indigenous institutions. This ethos is captured by such phrases as “sankofa” by the Asante, “majimbo” in Swahili, and the mantra, “African Renaissance,” touted by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
Botswana is the only African country that built upon its own indigenous institutions and prospered. Moreover, it was the same indigenous institutions African peasants utilized to engineer what historians call, “The Golden Age of Peasant Prosperity, 1880-1950.” In recent times, pro-democracy activists revived and modernized an indigenous African institution (the village meeting) into a “sovereign national conference” and used it as a vehicle to craft a new political dispensation for Benin, Cape Verde Islands, South Africa and Zambia – in the same way as the United Nations used a loya jirga, an ancient tribal democratic institution, to chart a new political order for Afghanistan in 2002. Similarly, the same indigenous African institutions can also be used to craft uniquely “African solutions to African problems.” Thus, the blueprint for Africa’s economic rejuvenation can be found in its on backyard; that is, its own indigenous institutions. Tragically, African leaders, elites and their Western development partners have seldom looked there.

Moeletsi Mbeki writes(pdf) "...When the colonies in Africa and Asia became independent, their political leaders were faced with two main challenges: achieving domestic political stability and transforming their economies from the production of raw materials to industrial production...At the root of Africa’s problems is ruling political elites that have misused the economic surplus generated by the African continent over the last 40 years. African political elites have exploited their position in order to
■ bolster their standard of living to Western levels,
■ undertake loss-making industrialisation projects that were not supported by the necessary technical,managerial, and educational development, and
■ transfer vast amounts of money from agriculture and mineral extraction to overseas private bank accounts, while borrowing vast amounts from developed countries.What were the results of those predatory policies? According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which have become Africa’s fairy godparents, Africans are poor and getting poorer..."
Via Global Growth Org

Thabo Mbeki states that:
"...An African university cannot but be an important and critical part of the African Renaissance. The challenge for an African university should be viewed as a call that insists that all critical and transformative educators in Africa embrace an indigenous African world-view and root their nation's educational paradigms in an indigenous socio-cultural and epistemological framework. This implies that all educational curricula in Africa should have Africa as their focus, and be indigenous-grounded and orientated. Failure to do so may result in education becoming alien and irrelevant..."
Via AfricanExecutive

In contrast to the mealy mouthed Thabo Mbeki, the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf clearly states what is at stake in Zimbabwe,News 24 reports:

"This is why today ... we send a strong message to all the African leaders to look at the Liberia example - to know that when the will of the people is suppressed, you create the underground tensions and torrents that eventually can lead to unmaking a society," she said.Sirleaf warned that the effects of that suppression spill over into the region - as happened with Liberia's wars."

via African Path

In 1998 the then Deputy South African President,Thabo Mbeki articulated his hopes for an African Renaissance. "...The time has come that we call a halt to the seemingly socially approved deification of the acquisition of material wealth and the abuse of state power to impoverish the people and deny our Continent the possibility to achieve sustainable economic development.Africa cannot renew herself where its upper echelons are a mere parasite on the rest of society, enjoying a self-endowed mandate to use their political power and define the uses of such power such that its exercise ensures that our Continent reproduces itself as the periphery of the world economy, poor, underdeveloped and incapable of development.The African Renaissance demands that we purge ourselves of the parasites and maintain a permanent vigilance against the danger of the entrenchment in African society of this rapacious stratum with its social morality according to which everything in society must be organised materially to benefit the few As we recall with pride the African scholar and author of the Middle Ages, Sadi of Timbuktu, who had mastered such subjects as law, logic, dialectics, grammar and rhetoric, and other African intellectuals who taught at the University of Timbuktu, we must ask the question - where are Africa's intellectuals today?..."A question as pertinent now as it was then.

Moeletsi Mbeki writes in the New Statesman:

At least a quarter of the South African population receives social grants that would not be possible if South Africa were not mineral-rich. Without mineral wealth to redistribute, the government would have to work harder and be more creative to find solutions to unemployment and poverty.Resource wealth makes it possible for the government not to have to put an effort into redeveloping the economy to create more jobs, and instead it sustains the unemployed and their dependants with social grants.

via African Path

Moeletsi Mbeki writes about the need to unfetter the private sector, it "... consists of the rural poor and of subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies. Neither of which is free to operate in the marketplace because each is dominated politically by non-producers who control the state. This is the weakness of the African private sector that explains its inability to become an engine of economic development. Africa’s private sector lacks political power and is therefore not free to operate to maximize its objectives. Above all, it is not free to decide what happens to its savings...The elite diverts these savings towards its own consumption, and also to strengthen the state’s repressive instruments. Much of what Africa’s elite consumes is imported. So state consumption does not create a significant market for African producers. Instead, it is a major drain on national savings that would otherwise have gone into productive investment. This explains Africa’s growing impoverishment. The more the political elite consolidates its power, the stronger its hold over the state, and therefore the more rural societies sink into poverty and African economies regress... ",Global Agenda.