China to ditch Mugabe?

Over at Politics.za, they note an interesting article in The Telegraph, which reports that Britain has been told by China that it would withdraw all support from Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, save humanitarian aid. If true, this would be a dramatic shift in policy, and could precipitate the final collapse of the regime. Even if Mugabe has not lost his appetite for power.

The economy is already on its knees. With prices having been fixed by government dictat, the only supply of goods and services is on the black market. With wages having been fixed too, nobody can afford them.

It’d be nice to think that the South African government had the foresight to accept Zimbabwean economic refugees and grant them work permits on the basis that their labour and entrepreneurship will contribute to the South African economy. However, the protectionist impulse among the politicians, steeped as they are in socialism and unionism, is too strong. So a refugee crisis is what it’ll be.

On the other hand, the sooner Zimbabwe collapses altogether, the sooner Zimbabweans can get to work rebuilding a new post-Mugabe country. Let’s hope this happens without a war.