16 March 2007Its all over the news, Robert Mugabe President of Zimbabwe, has officially become a dangerous tyrant. The leader of the only opposition party in Zimbabwe was arrested and taught a lesson-in the old fashion touchier way. Now, no Zimbabwean will dare to go against BROTHER R publicly.Off course this now puts the spotlight on the rest of the African countries, especially good old neighborly South Africa.So here comes my 2 cents worth opinion. As far as I understand this good to bad to worse tale of Zimbabwe, is that BROTHER R was apparently a hero in his early years of presidency. He was an educated [still is] visionary but above all, democracy supporting president. He did not chase the whites out when he became president, in fact he reassured them prosperity and promised his people equal prosperity under his rule. And so he was a hero not only to his people but to the rest of the continent- here was a guy upholding democratic principles, and it was working Zimbabwe was prosperous on all levels! So countries struggling with this wonderful democracy philosophy, such as apartheid South Africa, fled to Zimbabwe for help, and BROTHER R being the noble democratic man, opened his arms delightfully. And yes indeed without countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa might have never changed.So fast forward to the new millennium Zimbabwe, and ask yourself why African countries are not putting an end to Robert Mugabe"s tyranny. The answer is loyalty. Mugabe is not hurting any country with his madness neither is he screwing up business. With the expulsion of white farmers in Zimbabwe, the country has nothing to offer. It"s a land locked country so there is no trade business there, no special natural minerals that can"t be obtained from else where. So Mugabe is hurting no one else but his own people, that"s why no body is rushing to Zimbabwe. The ANC is maintaining its "on the fence" position because of the above reasons, and its appreciation to Zimbabwe during their "bad" times. It"s the African in African politics. BROTHE R is 83 years old, and has clearly lost the democratic plot here, no one is going to convince him over wise- it comes with old age. On behalf of Zimbabweans we can only wish the health threats of his age soon bring a timely death.