Have you no sense of decency, President Mbeki, at long last?

I've written several essays (such as here) criticizing South African president Thabo Mbeki for his appeasement of Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. In the past, Mbeki's sycophancy has been mostly limited to serving as Mugabe's willing enabler and perpetuating the lie that Mugabe's political repression and economic destruction is dandy because it's all Tony Blair's fault.

But now, Mbeki's boot licking of Zimbabwe's thug-in-chief threatens to reach an entirely different level. Mbeki has suggested that South Africa may repay some of Zimbabwe's foreign debts.

Speaking in Pretoria, Mr Mbeki said his country could help pay off Zimbabwe's near $300m (£172m) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In doing so, the South African president would become an active accomplice by underwriting the horrors of Mugabe's regime rather than simply a passive apologist for the Zimbabwean bully. And this unconscionable act would be subsidized by the South African taxpayers.