Zimbabwe's neighbours turn on Mugabe as election violence spreads to new areas

It feels like I have been saying this forever, that Africa needs to stand up and condemn Mugabe, no matter how much support Mbeki of South Africa continues to give him.

Well, suddenly, the dam has burst and several African nations have stood up and condemned Mugabe's actions and stated that the forthcoming elections will not be fair.

Three of Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) turned decisively against Mugabe yesterday. "There is every sign that these elections will never be free nor fair," Tanzania's foreign minister, Bernard Membe, said. He was speaking on behalf of his country, Swaziland and Angola, who are leading a 380-strong SADC election observer mission.

Membe said some of the 211 observers already in the country had seen two people shot dead in front of them. "We have told the government of Zimbabwe to stop the violence," he said. He added that he and his fellow foreign ministers would ask their respective presidents to "do something urgently so that we can save Zimbabwe".

This is exactly what we have all been calling for. Mugabe finds it easy to dismiss criticism from the west and to label it imperialism and claim that we are motivated by a desire to reclaim Zimbabwe as our own. But other African nations cannot be as easily dismissed.

The most powerful of Zimbabwe's neighbours is obviously South Africa and Mbeki's complicity in Mugabe's crimes is a deep stain on his character. One can only hope that the courage of Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania will spread throughout Africa. There is certainly proof on the ground that Africans have woken up to what Mugabe is actually all about.

Yesterday, Kenya's foreign minister, Moses Wetang'ula, condemned the "roadblocks" hindering the MDC campaign and urged Mugabe to hold a fair election. "Anything less is an affront to the evolving democratic culture in Africa and unacceptable to all people in Africa," he said in a statement.

Last weekend, as Kenya hosted Zimbabwe in a World Cup qualifying football match, the 36,000-strong crowd chanted: "Mugabe must go, Mugabe must go".

Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, Mugabe's terror regime continues:

Pro-government militias were reported to be hunting supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) through the densely populated townships around Harare, which had hitherto escaped the worst of the violence.

Amnesty International last night reported that the bodies of 12 victims of political violence had been found around the country, all bearing signs of torture. The report alleged they had been abducted by supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party, "who, in some instances, were accompanied by armed men believed to be government agents".

Four of the dead were young men taken from the house of an opposition member from the local council in Chitingwiza, the largest township around Harare, and included the councillor's son.

The killings follow the abduction and murder of the wife of Harare's mayor-elect, Abigail Chiroto, who was abducted along with her four-year-old son from another township, Hatcliffe. Her body was found in nearby fields the next day and the boy was left at a police station. The MDC says that 70 of its supporters have so far been killed in the campaign for next Friday's presidential run-off vote.

Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, has taken the same viewpoint that I have and loudly wondered why Mugabe bothers to have elections at all. I mean if you are going to cheat as blatantly as Mugabe has done why not state that you are a dictatorship and be done with it?

This is the part of Mugabe that I find so intriguing, the fact that he thinks he can behave in this way and then claim legitimacy. Who would want the votes of a people that you have to shoot and kill and maim and brutalise in order to have them vote for you?

What purpose is served by being democratically elected in this way? If they don't want you as leader, why go through this in order to force them to vote? Why not simply declare yourself leader and be done with it?

But Mugabe actually wants the people to elect him, even if he has to batter them to force them to do so.

It's a fatal flaw in his character, and it's what makes the influence of people like Mbeki so important. Were Mugabe willing to simply seize power, the opinions of his neighbours would count for very little. But Mugabe is actually willing to let the people vote, and if criticism of his regime comes from other African nations that would have far more import than the criticisms of former colonial powers, like Britain.

Which is why it is so important that three African nations have condemned him and why it is so scandalous that Mbeki continues to offer him support.

The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, however, has been the most conspicuous voice missing from the regional chorus. He has repeatedly sheltered Mugabe on the world stage, even questioning earlier this year whether there was a crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mbeki travelled to Zimbabwe on Wednesday and held talks with both Mugabe and the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. Mbeki has said nothing, but South Africa's Business Day newspaper reported he had tried to persuade both men to drop the second round vote and form a government of national unity. Tsvangirai has vowed not to join any government while Mugabe remains in power.

I am with Tsvangirai on this one. There can be no power sharing with this sad old tyrant. Zimbabwe cannot start to heal until Mugabe is gone.

And, as long as Mbeki continues to prevent any condemnation of Mugabe's brutal actions, then Mbeki is part of the problem rather than the solution.

However, with three African nations suddenly turning against him, it begins to look possible that the days of Mugabe are drawing to a close.

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Tags: Tsvangirai, Mugabe, Mbeki, Zimbabwe, South Africa