Mugabe in Mandela’s shadow

“There is a personal jealousy (by Mugabe) which has turned into a vendetta,” said Hermann Hanekom, a former high-level diplomat at South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry.

Both men started out as revolutionaries who struggled to end white rule in their countries. Both were jailed by white minority governments.

After Zimbabwe’s liberation in 1980, Mugabe as president early on served as a symbol of reconciliation between blacks and whites, and theWest had a new darling in Africa.

But things turned sour for the ascetic former teacher the day Mandela walked out of his cell in 1990 after 27 years as a prisoner of apartheid.

Suddenly, not just the region but the world had a new hero.

“Mugabe is deeply sensitive to Mandela’s international stature,” said Greg Mills, director of the South African Institute of International Affairs. “He feels his position has been usurped with the advent of democracy in South Africa.”

Mandela has taken up the mantle of grand conciliator, seeking harmony among the races at home and mediating abroad, whether in the Sudanese civil war or between Libya and the United States.

Meanwhile, Mugabe over the years has become increasingly authoritarian. He recently suspended one of his party officials for dissenting, called local whites “as mean as Jews” and campaigned against homosexuals.

“With the war in Congo, it is quite clear that personal pride is playing a major role in Mugabe’s conduct and attitude towardpresident Mandela at the moment,” Hanekom said.

Last week, Mugabe indirectly called Mandela a hypocrite for advocating peace while supporting Kabila’s opponents, a charge South Africa denies.

Early on in the fighting, which started in July, Mugabe did not invite Mandela to a meeting of regional leaders in Zimbabwe. Two weeks later, he spurned an invitation to a similar meeting in South Africa.

Yesterday South African deputy president Thabo Mbeki sought to downplay any policy differences over Congo, saying both sides want a cease-fire.

Mandela is chairman of the Southern African Development Community, an economic grouping of 14 countries dominated by South Africa. But Mugabe heads the community’s security organ, using the pulpit to promote his own stature, a source of irritation to Mandela, sources say.

The rivalry has consequences.

A desire to raise his stature in the region may have contributed to Mugabe’s dispatch of troops to Congo, some Africa watchers say.

Mugabe, 74, wears conservativedark suits and rides through town in 30-car motorcades, emerging unsmiling for awkward handshakes at election time. Mandela, 80, rarely fails to greet children through the fence behind the presidential gardens when foreign dignitaries come to town.

In public, the two men put up a good show of friendliness. Foreign ministry officials claim they talk frequently on the phone. When Mugabe married two years ago, Mandela was there.

While the groom wore white gloves and tails, Mandela sported one of his floral, African-style shirts. Mandela was married in July in a private ceremony attended by family and friends. Neither Mugabe nor other foreign dignitaries were invited.