Now Zimbabwe is threatening to expropriate property owned by South African companies.

Unfortunately, the only government official quoted in the story seemed remarkably sanguine about the whole thing. “We cannot dictate to [the Zimbabwean government] what they should do”, says Nana Zenani, speaking on behalf of the Department of Agriculture. Well, that’s utter nonsense. In any situation, the first priority of the South African government should always be to defend South African interests. There are plenty of ways that we could put pressure on the Zimbabwean government – by threatening to cut off their electricity, for example.

If this happens, and the Foreign Ministry doesn’t even try to stop it, then I truly will lose all faith in our government’s willingness to defend South African interests abroad.