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Life is back to normal a month after residents of Mamelodi in South Africa marched from on the Home Affairs offices in protest over criminality among immigrants. Now, there are calls for closer re-examination of the action, which many see as threatening peace in one of Africa's biggest economies. 'If drugs and crime were really the issues, it should have been billed as an anti-drugs, anti-crime march, not an anti-foreigner march,' said Johan Viljoen of Jesuit Refugee Service.
Last week, the much dreaded bond notes were released into the economy, in a move hoped to alleviate the cash crisis. Most citizens are negative about the move, with good reason - the last time Zimbabwe had its own currency was 2009, when inflation was so high the currency had to be dropped to salvage the economy. Most Zimbabweans remember that time well: every other month citizens had to drive to Botswana to put food on the table because the country's own shops were empty.
For the international community, including Australia, it is devilishly difficult to find the most helpful stance to take with the present regime in Zimbabwe. It is naive, however, to simply assume that things will come right once Mugabe has died. The fact is that things could get worse once he is off the scene.
In the last ten years the world of the refugee has rapidly shifted. The refugee camp is now the exception rather than the rule: 58 per cent of all refugees reside in urban areas, mostly in the rapidly growing slums of the cities in the global south.
Walking home from work in the early evening, 29-year-old Godfrey Sibanda was set upon by a mob, who beat and killed him. Like Australia, South Africa is concerned that it has become the nation of choice for forced migrants. This has caused both social and political unease.
There is growing awareness that the leniency shown to people fleeing Zimbabwe in recent years has put pressure on the South African community at the same time as letting Mugabe's government 'off the hook'. It seems that political imperatives may have replaced humanitarian motives.
Zimbabweans have been coming to South Africa for reasons such as political violence, displacement due to land reform, and the collapse of the economy. After initially turning them back at the border, South Africa moved towards a pragmatic 'special dispensation' that was more compassionate, even if the future of the country's refugee rules now remains uncertain.
Like many emerging societies, South Africa is a long way from being truly inclusive. The World Cup experience brought it much closer to that goal. Now it needs to ensure this progress is not undermined.
Significant agreement was achieved in Copenhagen on the present and future forcible displacement of people because of climate change and environmental degradation. Can global cooperation for the protection of vulnerable displaced persons be renewed to meet new circumstances?
Yesterday's political archrivals are today's strange bedfellows. The coalition government of Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara has halted Zimbabwe's hemorrhaging. Now that a veneer of progress exists, can Zimbabwe heal itself?
Zimbabwean names often reflect the mood of a family to the arrival of the new member. At a rural mission school I taught Blessing, Charity and Unique Faith. Penniless Ngwenya was the best and brightest of my students.
Sensing humiliation and still uttering vapid rhetoric about 'insidious foreign hands', Mugabe has lowered himself to talking to his opponents. The old rogue is not going anywhere except in a box or at the end of a gun.