Zim tragedy is no laughing matter

It is not surprising that clown prince minister Fikile Mbalula thought it highly amusing when one of his Twitter followers posted a photoshopped picture of a Zimbabwean policeman kicking a football, not the unarmed protester he was in the original image.

Mbalula is no rocket scientist, so we don’t expect him to have even the smallest inkling of the human rights struggle being waged by Africans north of our border. Yet his total lack of empathy characterises the attitude of the ANC government, whose conduct over the past 25 years has allowed the tragedy in Zimbabwe to unfold.

In the name of African solidarity, the ANC turned a blind eye to the depredations of the Zanu-PF government, first under Robert Mugabe and now under Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The Zimbabwean dictators – because that is effectively what they are – have been allowed to steal elections as well as cow opponents into submission through kidnaps, assaults and murders.

The ANC’s policy seems to be that as long as the oppressors are not white, then everything is fine. All that does, though, is reinforce the old colonial attitude that African lives are cheap.

And that is not something to be laughed at, or along with, if you are a minister, Mbaks.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.