MDC breaks ties with ANC, South African govt

After the South African government's endorsement of the rigged elections in Zimbabwe, the Zim opposition Movement for Democratic Change has broken off ties with the government in Pretoria and with South Africa's ruling ANC party.

"In the past we have given the South African government the benefit of the doubt, maintaining that the reason they embark on the kind of policies that they do might have a lot to do with their ignorance of what is happening in the ground," said an MDC spokesman.

He charged that the South African Observer Mission was in Zimbabwe for the sole business of observing the elections but did not bother to do that. He also said they proceeded to declare the election free and fair when they had done nothing in terms of observing the elections.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has been much criticized for his 'softly softly' approach toward the regime-provoked crisis in Zimbabwe. Many accuse him of an undignified timidity toward Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, even though the crisis in Zim has had serious repercussions on the entire southern African region. But Pres. Mbeki has defended his actions by insisting that quiet diplomacy is more effective than vocal harranguing.

Zimbabweans are still waiting for the slightest evidence of that.