Paradise lost. Was it ever found?

Although these tensions have been brewing for sometime, the fallout from Zimbabwe's disintegration under Mugabe is starting to take a visible toll on the internal workings of neighboring states in the region, especially South Africa. While South Africa's miraculous transition from Apartheid to majority-rule in 1994 is both commendable and impressive on multiple levels, the blind faith invested in the ruling ANC, and the rose-colored glasses frequently applied to the future of South African society in a democratic era have missed the mark, far and wide. The ANC's lack of resolve on isolating and undermining the Mugabe regime have sown the seeds for the aforementioned story, along with the chronic mismanagement of expectations of their internal constituencies. Africa and its few progress minded leaders need to embrace the fact the yesterday's "liberation" heroes have evolved into today's despots, mass-murders, villains, and are a tumor on tomorrow's aspirations.