Quite correct, Mr Tatchell. As a South African I am outraged. Mandela is the one man who could make a big difference, but stays silent. But more disgraceful is the lack of action from the ANC government in South Africa. Mr Mfngu's comment, 3:02pm, was also disgrace. Who cares if they are friends? You condemn someone who is a murderer and a dictator, no matter how deep your friendship runs. What sort of morals have you got? So if someone was friends with the apartheid government, do you suggest they should NOT have spoken against it? Ridiculous and shows the African mindset.

Which Nelson Madela are we talking about here? "Living saint" doesn't fit well with "one-time leader of the terrorist organisation Umkhonto we Sizwe". History truly is written by the victors.

To anyone in Zimbabwe that supports Mugabe with violence:

Just remember that he is an old man and will die soon. Be careful of the legacy you leave yourself and your country when he dies.

When Hitler died, the Nazi's scattered all around the world to avoid their fate for the suffering they knew they caused.

”shows the African mindset?" Is this not a racist comment? How about "ridiculous, and shows the colonialist overlord mindset"? Mbeki, granted, is been useless. That`s been known for years. China and Russia should be criticized by other African countries for their stance. The rest of the world, the UN, and Mandela in particular, could and should have acted sooner. Mugabe should have been detained while in Italy.

UN sanctions, enforced by Zimbabwe`s neighbors, denial of all but humanitarian assistance delivered by UN authorized foreign bodies, denial of regime members` access to foreign bank accounts, and open borders, temporary aid and safe shelter to Zimbabweans who wish to leave, internationally financed, would be a good start.

Hey you guys, what is wrong with you? Mandela declared himself out of all political issues long time ago, why you people want him to get involved in this internal conflit,that will not benefit him or his philantropist dutie anyway?

I would like to remind you people on one thing before you put all your bad jugement on Mandela. In 1997 Mandela invited Mobutu, then President of DRCongo and Kabila, a rebel supported by Bush to meet up in South Africa and discuss the sharing power issue to stop the civil war in their country. What happened that day, every Africain can remember easily because Kabila refused to agree on Mandela proposition even thought Mandela was doing this for their own good. What I want to say is that althought Mandela was not fit enough to travel to the island and meet up with these two Congolese evils, but he did indeed and what he got from them was just what he does not want to get from Mugabe and Morgan because they would not listen to him anyway. I am sure Mandela has come to the point of thinking that despite his effort, these two people would not listen to him. So please leave Mandela alone and let him live in peace for the rest of his life. I am sure Africa has got more leadres who can handle this situation but the problem is all of them have got the same ambitions as Mugabe and Morgan, which is to get power and discriminate their own people. I am not happy with the way Mugabe is treating his own peopl, and I am also not happy with the way Morgan has withdrew himself from the election poll. It is a sign of selfishness,because if he thinks that the majority of people are behind him then he should carry on with this election and punish Mugabe. I don't think he is man enough to handle the situation of the country, his behaviour speaks of itself.

Spot on PT!

Nkheyehenye HH Mfngu - Mandela is not his friend, in fact he cannot stand him!!

Mandela's silence is because he does not want to embaress the man he appointed to succeed him - Mbeki. But as we are now seeing 'one man one vote' was just convienent propaganda to be used against undemocratic white regimes. Democracy becomes irrelevant to this lot once they are in power. ZanuPF=ANC=ZanuPF & so on!

Helping Zimbabwe is not the main reason why Mandela should speak out, because it probably wouldn't make a lot of difference to the situation in Zimbabwe. It might, but most likely it wouldn't. The reason why he should speak out is that the whole of Africa needs a clear statement that democracy is the way forward. Mandela's legacy should be to draw a clear distinction between black rule - especially "liberation" movement rule - and democracy, which are two fundamentally different things. Many white liberals do not understand how different, and nor do most African bigwigs. There is only one man who could put this difference to both those groups in a way they might understand, and that is Mandela. Though that assumes that he fully understands it himself, which I doubt. Tutu does, which is why he should be the man on the pedestal, if anyone, not Mandela.

Mandela retired from Politics? In 2003 when the usa invaded iraq mandela called the usa an evil empire. but he does not say anything about his friends mugabe,castro,gadaffi. in 1983 PW Botha had the chance of assasinating Mugabe(Mugabe provided training and funding to the anc in the 80s), he did not want to do it because at that time the west was in love with mugabe and south africa was the black sheep of the world. Lets think about it, maybe old PW Botha should have ordered the assasination? zimbabwe would have been a better country today? life expectancy of blacks under white rule in rhodesia was 65 years, its now 37 years!!! common sense. to the auther, how do you sleep at night? you should be held responsible for terror that is oppon all south africans with this black goverment. I would not be surprised that you are living in the UK??? why not south africa, as you have worked so hard to make it ''better''???

Since when was it Nelson Mandela's responsibility to fix the unforgivable actions of a cretin who was once a hero for millions of Zimbabwean? Yes Mandela is truely an inspirational figure whose own actions paved the way for millions of South Africans to experience freedom today. But lets not forget that Mandela is a human being, a father and evidently an ageing man who cannot save the world by himself. It is not up to him and solely up to him to speak out against Mugabe. Where were all the world leaders years before condemning Mugabe's actions? To do it now, after so much torture has taken place, is too little too late. It is unfair to put all the blame on Madiba. Look at his successor Thabo Mbeki - what has HE done? As the leader of SA and the ANC HE should be the one speaking out, not a 90 year old man who has done more for this world than we can ever repay him.

He has spoken out against the Zimbabwe regime, happy now Mandela haters? He's 90, give him a break

This is not courageous at all.Doesn't anyone realise here that he has not gone far enough.Mandela "signed off on the church street bombings."Is terrorsim ok if it's for the greater good?