Why has democratic South Africa done so much to squander its once acclaimed moral leadership?

“If others had used the arguments we are using today when we asked them for their support against apartheid we might still have been unfree.” - Desmond Tutu on Zimbabwe

The new president, Kgalema Motlanthe, may sound tougher than his ever-appeasing predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. But he seems no more willing to turn the screws on his errant northern neighbour, Robert Mugabe. - The Economist

NVDL: Zimbabwe has really exposed not only the lack of leadership of the Southern African region, but also the power-hungry ambitions of its leaders (including the leaders of South Africa). To lead, to govern, in spite of and at the expense of the people who elected them.

Yet Africa wants the world to see Africa differently to the ways Africa has been perceived in the past. Is Africa any different?

clipped from www.economist.com But in recent years, Mr Mandela’s promised beacon has begun to look decidedly dim. Since 2006, when South Africa secured a (non-permanent) seat on the Security Council for the first time, it has been chumming up with China, Russia and other authoritarian regimes to water down or block virtually every resolution touching on human rights. It argues that the Security Council (dominated by the five veto-wielding permanent members) should not concern itself with such issues, leaving them to the Human Rights Council (on which developing countries have a controlling majority). But that body has proved as ineffectual as its predecessor, stifling—with South Africa’s help—criticism of the world’s worst tyrants. In truth, the ruling African National Congress has always been cosy with some dictators, such as Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi and Cuba’s Fidel Castro, even under Mr Mandela—largely out of gratitude for past help during the struggle against white rule.