History has a habit of repeating itself and I do not think we are an exception. I recall like yesterday, the situation in September 1976 when Henry Kissinger came to Pretoria in South Africa to hold discussions with the President and then with Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia.
On the Sunday night I sat in the lounge of a close friend with several others - mostly from the University of Zimbabwe - and watched a statement by Smith on television on the outcome of the South African talks. Up to that point in time few of us believed that Smith would agree to change that would be acceptable either to the international community or to the majority in the country. It looked as if we would fight on until the country was a burnt wreck and derelict from decades of conflict.
As we all know, Smith made the astonishing statement that he had accepted majority rule and that they were going to work towards that objective from now onwards. It was over; the effort to hold back the march of time had failed. But it was to be another three years of fighting and uncertainty before Lancaster House and democratic elections that brought Robert Mugabe to power.
In retrospect I think that Henry Kissinger never saw his role as trying to resolve the crisis, just to get the process under way. He knew that the main obstacle to progress was represented by Mr. Smith and his colleagues and that to get movement their grip on power had to be broken. Politics, after all, is all about the use of power to secure agreed objectives.
In later years I was a regular visitor to the United States and came into contact with many of the leaders in their government. I was given privileged access to many parts of the US administration and discovered what the meaning of being a 'super' power was. I then realised that if the United States , or any major power, had the will to do so, their reach was enormous and their capabilities astonishing.
The reality is that we are not just a minnow in global politics but absolutely insignificant in geo political terms. Even South Africa only has the punch of a medium sized western City. I therefore understand that if a regional power like South Africa chooses to use its regional clout, they can do a great deal. So I have always believed that South Africa has the capabilities to do to Mr. Mugabe and his cohorts, just what they did to Mr. Smith in 1976.