President Cyril Ramaphosa this week finally responded to the beatings and torture of innocent civilians in Zimbabwe by dispatching Sydney Mufamadi and former National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete to Harare to talk some sense into President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

One doesn't know much about Mufamadi's diplomatic skills, but one has to suppress a giggle at the thought of Mbete as an envoy. Could she negotiate her way out of a paper bag?..