South Africa's apologist for Mugabe's reign of error

Guardian:

The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, chided critics of his handling of the political upheaval in Zimbabwe yesterday, saying his efforts to mediate between the government and opposition are on track and will deliver a resolution to the crisis.

A cabinet meeting yesterday rejected reports that the talks are failing after Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF failed to attend the first round and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said there was no progress at subsequent negotiations. The cabinet said in a statement that Mr Mbeki had reported to a summit of regional leaders that he is confident of brokering a deal.

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The cabinet also denied that Mr Mbeki blamed Britain for Zimbabwe's economic problems. According to a document circulating among diplomats before the summit that purported to be a draft of Mr Mbeki's position at the meeting, the South African leader joined Mr Mugabe in accusing the UK of leading a campaign of sanctions to bring Zimbabwe's economy to its knees. Mr Mbeki's office said it knew nothing about the document.

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Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that the official inflation rate for Zimbabwe was 7,634.8 per cent in July. I suspect that it is understated, but someone attempted to calculate it with remarkable "precision."

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The International Monetary Fund has predicted inflation could reach 100,000 per cent by the end of the year and Christopher Dell, the outgoing US ambassador, suggested 1.5 million per cent.

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Mugabe has done something that no one on earth has ever done. He has created mind boggling inflation to go along with mind boggling ineptitude in economics. I think someday a prize will surely be named for him. Meanwhile South Africa's leadership continues to enable Mugabe's dysfunctional "leadership." Mbeki is almost as bad as Mugabe, he just does not have the despotic authority he needs to mess things up as badly.