Unsurprisingly, the Vice President of Zimbabwe has publicly endorsed the proposition that his boss, Robert Mugabe, become President for life. This would not be the sort of statement permissible in any sort of democracy, no matter how rootless its institutions, and of course, Zimbabwe has never been a democracy, not when it was Rhodesia, and certainly not for any duration of time under the leadership of Robert Mugabe. What’s troubling, however, is that international observers—particularly neighboring South Africa—are treating the upcoming March 2008 election with a degree of seriousness that lends it undeserved legitimacy.

South Africa and the African Union are building up the region’s hopes for a democratic ballot, when what will transpire will be anything but free and fair. That the country’s Vice President feels emboldened enough to declare that a man who has ruled uninterrupted for nearly three decades should continue to hold power until he dies indicates a political atmosphere that allows for such brazen endorsements of totalitarianism without fear of any repercussion.

In any event, the Vice President in question, Joseph Masika, had this to say, according to the Sunday Mail, a state newspaper:

“We do not change leaders as fast as we change our shirts.”

Twenty-seven years to change a shirt? Hard to fathom . . .