Zimbabwe rejects Mandela rebuke

Mugabe has, of course, rejected the calls from the international community to suspend the elections in Zimbabwe and plans to claim legitimacy after a vote which the MDC have withdrawn from due to the relentless violence inflicted upon them by Mugabe's thugs.

Even an intervention by the man many believe to be Africa's conscience has had little effect and Mugabe's supporters have gone as far as to condemn Mandela for his statement:

A ruling Zanu-PF official described Mr Mandela's comments as unacceptable and unfortunate for a man of his stature.

Speaking to the BBC, the parliamentary chief whip for Zanu-PF said Mr Mandela's statement was "very unfortunate". "I don't see the merit in that kind of statement... [It's] totally unacceptable... the judgement that he has made," Jerome MacDonald Gumbo said.

Asked whether the final round of the presidential vote would be postponed, he said: "There is no chance of that. There is no reason."

Mandela has made the same judgement as many African nations have in condemning this viscous assault on democracy. There is no doubt that Mugabe will find Africa a colder place after he steals this election as, for the first time ever, other African nations have publicly spoken out against him.

This can only be welcomed. And Mugabe's great supporter, Thebo Mbeki, now finds himself utterly isolated, with both Mandela and the ANC speaking out against his passive stance towards this stain on Africa's name.

With other African nations now solidifying their opposition to what he is doing, Mugabe has rejected the opinions of the African Union out of hand:

While he said he intended to attend an African Union summit in Egypt next week, Mr Mugabe said the AU had "no right in dictating to us what we should do with our constitution, and how we should govern this country".

He told supporters during Thursday's Harare rally that he was not interested in the opinions of the rest of the world.

"I would rather the world left us in peace. Sanctions, well, let them continue with their sanctions, but we will find our way of existing," said Mr Mugabe.

The greatest gag of all in this is that Mugabe is now saying that he prepared to enter into talks with the MDC after the election.

"Should we emerge victorious, which I believe we will, sure we won't be arrogant, we will be magnanimous and say 'let's sit down and talk,'" he said.

The irony here is that this is what Mbeki has wanted all along, for Mugabe to agree to talks. However, there is not a chance in Hell that Tsvangirai will take part in talks after an election process that has killed 80 members of his party and forced 200,000 of his supporters from their homes. It's way past the time for talking. Africa needs to unite and force this man from office.

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Tags: Mugabe, Mbeki, Mandela, Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zanu-PF, MDC