Zimbabwe bloggers doubt Mbeki clout

Some accuse Thabo Mbeki (l) of being too soft on Robert Mugabe (r)

As talks to end the deadlock on Zimbabwe's cabinet continue, Zimbabwean bloggers wonder whether the mediator, Thabo Mbeki, still wields enough influence on President Robert Mugabe now that he is no longer South Africa's leader.

Mbeki mediation

Debvu, writing on The Bearded Man blog on 14 October says: "I understand the knee jerk reaction of the MDC to seriously consider withdrawing [from the power-sharing agreement]. He described Mugabe's 'decision to railroad everyone and go it alone with the allocation of ministries in the cabinet the action of a dictator'."

I am not sure that the presence of Mbeki in Zimbabwe will make one blind bit of a difference Debvu, The Bearded Man

He questions whether Zimbabweans expected Mugabe "to pay any heed to former South African President, Thabo Mbeki" as Mugabe now considered Mbeki "a spent force - a former world leader, and therefore, in Mugabe's mind, not worthy of any mediation".

"I am not sure that the presence of Mbeki in Zimbabwe will make one blind bit of a difference... the mediation should be carried out by someone else - someone not joined at the hip to Mugabe, someone not sympathetic to ZANU PF," he adds.

Mugabe 'drops the pretence'

Debvu says Mugabe is "nothing less than a person who makes it his business to lie, cheat and steal", adding that the octogenarian president does not want the peace process to get to the power-sharing stage.

"Now he is dropping the pretence, has lost all the support he may have had, and will go it alone - with his minion, Arthur Mutambara." Mutambara is the leader of the smaller faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

He adds: "I don't want to get into the Mutambara question ... Suffice it to say, I do not trust him."

'Free world recognizing Mugabe'

Writing on 12 October, Debvu criticized Mugabe's allocation of ministries as an "audacious coup", fearing that "the free world will watch what is going on in Zimbabwe, wring their hands and moan, and then return to whatever they were doing before."

"Not one country will make a stand against Mugabe," he says, adding that, "by not doing anything, the free world is virtually recognising Mugabe and his cabinet".

The rest of the world is now concerned with the forthcoming global recession and has forgotten the poor people of Zimbabwe LuanshyaBlue, This is Zimbabwe

Another blogger, Ants, writing on This is Zimbabwe on 11 October, agrees. "Mugabe is predictable - he'll simply take whatever he wants. The rest of the world and Africa are predictable - they'll simply let him! It is a real pity Mugabe is not white - he would have been stopped long ago," he says.

Another contributor to This is Zimbabwe, LuanshyaBlue, concurs. "The rest of the world is now concerned with the forthcoming global recession and has forgotten the poor people of Zimbabwe. This is at least partially because the political 'leaders' of southern Africa are self-evidently not interested in unseating Mugabe, and this means 'the West' can do nothing."

One contributor, however, was positive about how the world can help Zimbabwe. True Grit, writes: "I think there is plenty the 'rest of the world' can do. SA [South Africa] for one can tell Mugabe to resign" or else, "the SADC [Southern African Development Community] can put pressure on him to leave, the AU can exert their influence and the West can threaten further sanctions for the Mugabe regime as well as threaten to withdraw aid from other African nations if they don't sort the problem of Mugabe out. China and Russia could take a moral stand instead of looking after their own interests," he writes. This prompts fellow blogger, Don Cox, to comment: "China and Russia could take a moral stand instead of looking after their own interests? You must be joking."

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