Nelson Mandela would not have authorised the movement of arms over SA soil until the election was resolved peacefully. Unlike Mandela, Thabo Mbeki has no common sense but neither do many other world leaders. I could discuss George Bush’s involvement in Somalia for starters. Race is not the issue!

The SA Apartied Regime was no shining light. Amongst other things they supported a decades long insurgency in neighbouring Mozambique that became a humanitarian nightmare.

(As an aside, Flying over that country 18 years ago a in an Air Zimbabwe 737, I noticed a stumpy silver aircraft well below us. It was of course a MIG 19 of the Mozambique Air Force. The risk was that the rebels could fire an SA2 or similar (supplied to them by South Africa) at the MIG only to hit the Boeing. Perhaps the Mig was hiding under that radar shadow of the Boeing --- I don’t know.)