In South Africa, a deadly combination of the pursuit of quick riches, superficial materialism, abject poverty and lingering legacy of a violent Apartheid past has made human life a disposable commodity.

Reference is being made here to the recent cold-blooded murder of reggae legend Lucky Dube as one in hundreds of such cases that pass unnoticed on a typical day in South Africa, and when one aggregates the body bags from violent rapes, armed robberies, HIV/AIDs, school stabbings and car crushes, South Africa is rated higher than Iraq, the Darfur and Afghanistan as the most dangerous peace-time country on the planet. And yet the FIFA World Cup is a mere thirty months away. What a shameful and disgusting joke on Africa! The buck stops with President Thabo Mbeki.

The assassination of South African businessman Brett Kebble brought to the fore questionable relationships between police commissioner Jack Selebi and underworld crime suspects Glenn Agliotti and Clint Nassif. To date, Thabo Mbeki has spited all criticism and spurned all advice to show Selebi the exit door, a man who has dug in his position and protests that the only thing he knows about the crime underworld is what he reads in South Africa's 'reactionary' press. Again if I shift the spotlight onto South Africa's controversial health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, it seems she would have done a world of good to her reputation by resigning, rather than fending off criticism of her 'criminal misdemeanors' by exploiting the leverage of Thabo Mbeki's political muscle.

It is in the light of these two cases that Mr Mbeki takes the first prize in the contest of Africa's lethargic leaders.  If, according to the ANC constitution, this is Mr Mbeki's final lap of political and national leadership, his race for FIFA 2010 will either fall on its face a few metres before the finish line, or he will disappear into the crowd with the baton on a frolic of frenzied and convulsive confusion. Zimbabweans and indeed rational Africans are yet to be convinced that South Africans have the right level of respect for human life to host the world's galaxy of football stars in 2010. This soccer carnival is not only about glitzy stadiums and fast trains, it has a high content of human security. Car jacking, muggings, rapes and armed robberies are a familiar scene in the panorama of most developing countries like Nigeria and Zambia. Islamic fundamentalists cause havoc in Egypt and Algeria, but none of those countries are hosting the Football World Cup in 2010. If you cannot trust a South African with an innocent life driving a simple two-hundred thousand Rand car, why would we believe the US million-dollar Thierry Henries and Ronaldinhos of the football world will be safe in Johannesburg?

As a Zimbabwean, I am thrilled that the greatest football fiesta is happening a stone throw away from my country. But I implore President Thabo Mbeki to embark on a serious purge of his cabinet and political friends to rid the house of criminal elements.  I demand that the same effort and schizophrenic fervor that ANC exerts on Cape Town to rid the Mother City of Democratic Alliance influence be applied to dealing with crime in the rest of South Africa.

If the world has to be convinced that Thabo Mbeki is serious about not just minimising, but also eradicating senseless, violent crime from the streets of South Africa in preparation for 2010, he should immediately relieve Jack Selebi and Tshabalala-Msimang of their 'stately' duties. After all, wasn't he brave enough to fire Tshabalala-Msimang's deputy Nozizwe Madlala-Routeledge for lesser offences? Meanwhile, as a matter culpable national responsibility, South Africans must apologise to Black Africa for the tragic killing of Lucky Dube. I also urge my South Africa brothers to get off their bottoms and start working for a living, instead of stalking the streets, robbing and shooting innocent people. That economy has, for a long time, been oiled with the sweat of Malawians, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Suthus, but now the age of slavery is well and truly over.