Legitimising the stealing of an election
Put a stressful week behind you by having an omelet and a beer in a gorgeous garden cafe. That’s my approach at least. Speaking of beer, I’ve just read this little bit from a Financial Mail article (Negotiating from a kneeling position) which can’t really bear thinking about really, but I guess we should make the effort:
But these talks have already made things much worse. For their actual meaning is not about reconciliation or negotiation; it is about legitimising the stealing of an election. And that election was followed by state-sponsored violence that forced the winners of the election to negotiate – from a position of extreme weakness – with the losers. Something of the kind has already happened in Kenya. With these continental precedents, there may in the future be a temptation to allow something of the kind to happen here in SA. After all, if the supporters of Jacob Zuma can say without repudiation that they are prepared to kill – sorry, eliminate – those who stand in his way, the refusal to accept the outcome of an election should be small beer indeed.