[HostileTerritory]

They wanted majority rule, and they have to live with the consequences.

That's ridiculous. Majority rule does not mean indefinite suspension of elections and civil liberties--if anything, it means the opposite. Mugabe has corrupted the electoral process and the majority would happily throw him out on his ass in the ballot box if they could.

The comparison is not with Ian Smith's government, which meant eternal purgatory for the African majority, but for the democracy and moderate prosperity that countries such as Botswana have achieved and which South Africa has been moving toward to per what I read in the Economist.

[quadrant]

They voted Robert Mugabe into office.
If they aren't living through purgatory now, what would you call it?
I suggest you read more about South Africa. Crime is rampant. And the government is about to start the same sort of land reform that ruined Zimbabwe. Give South Africa another ten years - if that long - and the country will be in ruins.