Nobody told Thabo that thing about stopping digging:
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has sprung to the defence of Robert Mugabe and blamed Britain for the crisis in Zimbabwe.Yes, and worse than silly. Try and run with it: because of the land issue… human rights abuses, torture, starving your political opponents and so forth. A bit like some of the root causes stuff about September 11. See also this, and the fifth item of my earlier Catching up post.
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President Mbeki dismissed Commonwealth concerns about human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, saying it had lost sight of the land issue, which he described as the core of the problems in Zimbabwe.
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Lovemore Madhuku, a prominent Zimbabwean academic, said: “The point is that Mbeki is now looking a bit silly by his campaign to defend the totally indefensible.”