A home for Comrade Robert
One of the arguments advanced by the apartheid regime in South Africa was that communists were infiltrating Africa. It was beyond their understanding that they were creating conditions in South Africa which made communism, as an alternative, relatively attractive for some.
There is therefore a rich irony that the very week after the death of former president F W Botha, who pursued this particular theme, the Chinese were hosting a conference for African leaders in Beijing. The script is well known. In exchange for Africa’s resources, transport infrastructure is being created, buildings constructed and increased aid is being given. I have witnessed this even in quite remote parts of the Continent. The Chinese do not link their involvement to the West’s demands for good governance.
One of the foreign policy failings of this Government was, at an early stage, to misunderstand the dangers of the course Robert Mugabe was charting in his country. By contrast, we immediately foresaw what was happening. In the Commons, our warnings were regarded as bordering on the hysterical. At that point, it might have just been possible to make the South Africans alive to what was coming. They are now paying a huge price, with a flood of impoverished refugees.
When in Beijing, Robert Mugabe said he regarded China as his “second home”. The Chinese reputation for hospitality would be further enhanced if President Hu Jintao invited him to make it his first home. It would be an excellent solution to an intractable problem, with all its tragic consequences.