A Word in Mugabe’s Ear

A generation in southern Africa knows Robert Mugabe not as the courageous leader of Zimbabwe’s fight for independence from Britain but as the authoritarian ruler who clings to power by rigging elections and demonizing his opponents. This week’s balloting fits the pattern. The country deserves far better than Mugabe, who has only led it deeper into poverty. Thabo Mbeki, president of neighboring South Africa and one of the few leaders who has Mugabe’s ear, should urge him to shape up.

Independence for the land once known as southern Rhodesia was a sterling victory for the majority black population after decades of white colonial rule. Mugabe was a leader in the fight, was imprisoned for years and was looked on as a man who could make the transition from freedom fighter to statesman. He has not.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai would have defeated Mugabe in presidential elections three years ago had the vote been fair. But Mugabe supporters beat up opponents, moved polling stations and kept electoral rolls filled with the names of dead or fictional voters. There are no signs of improvement this time.

Mugabe won’t let poll watchers from the United States, Britain or the European Union monitor the balloting. But South Africa is sending an official observer delegation. Mbeki should challenge Mugabe to let Zimbabweans vote freely. The South African president has regional prestige that Mugabe lacks; his urgings may not be heeded, but they need to be proclaimed.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice included Zimbabwe on her six-nation “outpost of tyranny” list during her confirmation hearings in January. That’s a fair assessment. The fixed votes of recent years also demonstrate that elections do not automatically add up to democracy, a fact the Bush administration should keep in mind as it pushes for greater freedom in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Still, Mbeki and other African leaders should take advantage of Zimbabwe’s elections to try to accomplish what the opposition has failed to do: push Mugabe to take pride in his status as the country’s liberator and avoid being remembered as yet another ruler who stayed too long and descended from hero to tyrant.