Is Thabo Mbeki really still in touch with reality?

It was therefore not surprising to the watchers of the southern African political scene, when Mbeki declared to the puzzled SADC Summit of heads of state and government this weekend that there was "no crisis" in Zimbabwe.

As the Lusaka summit got under way, it was exactly 14 days since the Zimbabweans cast their votes to decide whom their president should be.  Up to now there had not been a word as to when the presidential results would be released.  Instead, the autocratic Robert Mugabe regime has unleashed its terror campaign on the opposition, white farmers and literally anybody who does not profess to love his ruling ZANU-PF.