CRIES of moral outrage have greeted the brutal crackdown by the Zimbabwean security forces on nationwide protests sparked by a sudden, massive, government-ordained hike in the price of fuel.
Naturally enough, the demand is that “something must be done” to stop the brutality.
Twelve people have already died, hundreds have been injured and there have been mass round-ups.
In South Africa, demands that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government should take firm action are fuelled by two factors.
The presence of a large Zimbabwean migrant community within the country is one.
The second is a widespread sense that Pretoria’s policy towards its errant neighbour has always been one of light wrist-tapping rather than a vigorous twisting of arms.
Inter-liberation movement solidarity is widely said to have strangled serious South African criticisms of Zimbabwean governments.
This “quiet diplomacy” has been regularly dismissed as a strategy of doing nothing.
If South Africa got serious, say the critics, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime would have to comply with its demands. Democracy in Zimbabwe could be given a real chance.
Many South Africans are concerned by the position Ramaphosa has taken towards the present crisis.
