Wayne, I respect both yours and Laurence’s comments very much. However with all due respect, whenever you both write on Zim its like you trying to convince yourselves (and everyone else for that matter) that South Africa could never go down the road Zimbabwe has taken. Says who? Being an attorney myself, I have been exposed to sham of our legal system and let me tell you in no uncertain terms that the goverment of this country, will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. The constitution can be changed with a flick of a pen. Already our goverment is beginning the process of taking control of our judges (wheres the independence?) Let me finish on this note ,that with regards to Zimbabwe -ommission by our goverment in condeming the human rights abuses, corruption, murder, etc is a crime in itself and is ironic that now that the shoe is on the other foot, our goverment fails so miserably. As Mbeki said ‘’Our future lies with East and not the West’‘.....makes you think doesnt it.?

I understand that the judiciary is indeed under various degrees of attack from the Government, and that the above can be changed by a special majority in parliament. However I don’t think that the ANC would be able to fullu muster such a motion in parliament. I may be wrong but I think the fiscal conservatives within the ANC would not support it.

I’ll defer to your knowledge and experience in the law profession, but on my side it’s not wilfill ignorance based on what I’ve observed from economics and work.

One specific and very politically charged audit involving the SA Government and the OSI and OPIC mentioned above among others is important. I’ll also point out that organisations like USAID, SIDA and NORAD (the Norwegian Aid Agency, not the US Nuclear Defence wing) have been involved.

The amounts of funding then flowing into funding black resettlement and land acquisitions – rural and urban – are very substantial and above what Zimbabwe ever bothered to do. That’s outside the Land Bank too.

But while the above is very ‘un-libertarian’ economics, as I’ve stated before it’s bridging measure based on South Africa’s past to go alongside sustainable policies. The other side of that coin is South Africa’s economic performance being better than Zim’s as well, with the economics much more solid. I believe it’s important because my philosophy is that economic growth is one of the primary drivers for prosperity, and that helps prevent the Zim route.

Mugabe and Zanu-PF followed near-Marxist or socialist economic policies that worsened poverty. One of the proper guarantees of the capitalist policies that will actually realise true prosperity is the guarantee of property rights – hence why I highlighted the matter above.

That all being said, I’ve also said before it’s not all coming down roses locally. I foresee the possibility of maybe one or two more crises ahead for the country but I don’t believe it’s all bad either. I tend to see it as rather being a convergence of competing factors. That may sound vague or wishy-washy but if you’ve read the site you’ve seen that Laurence and I criticise and praise certain activities alike. We’re not blind to the fact that Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy is really quiet support for Mugabe as a related example.