Zimbabweans would cross our borders and come to us. We share one fate in this region. South Africa is afraid that if the crisis deepens much more, hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans will head south, worsening the country's rampant and sometimes violent xenophobia. But this week, while he said he was exerting some pressure on Mr Mugabe to adhere to the legal redistribution of land and to end the violence, he made it clear that he would only go so far. We cannot have a situation where Thabo Mbeki goes and tells President Mugabe what to do.
Some commentators act as if Zimbabwe is a province of South Africa.
Zimbabwe is a sovereign country. There is more at stake for Mr Mbeki than the fate of Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe is a key player in the Congo war and Mr Mbeki sees no point in isolating him when progress is finally being made to end the destabilising conflict. Mr Mbeki's critics say his government is being an apologist for an increasingly repressive regime. The Zimbabwean justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, himself warned three supreme court judges that they might come to harm if they did not resign.