Is South Africa ready to send in troops?

last updated 8 January 2015

Hopewell Radebe

Business Day (South Africa)

If a tyrant can be toppled in Iraq, said Hopewell Radebe in the Johannesburg Business Day, then why not in Zimbabwe? The South African government primly insists that Robert Mugabe can never be expelled by force, but if the post-election violence in Zimbabwe goes on much longer, its neighbors will be under growing international pressure to step in. And it wouldn’t be illegal, either: Both the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) amended their charters a few years ago to permit military intervention in cases where governments have been overthrown or disorder is rampant. So if Mugabe fiddles with the runoff election results or resorts to blatant military rule, there will be ample justification for outside intervention. South Africa should also note that other African states have become far less squeamish about interfering where needed. In 1997 Nigeria sent troops into Sierra Leone to kick out the junior officers who’d staged an armed coup; the following year SADC forces invaded Lesotho to restore the civilian government. In both countries democracy survived as a result. So yes, military force should always be a last resort, but in Zimbabwe’s case there may be no other way.