King Canute lives

A little noted fact about President Bob Mugabe of Zimbabwe is that he has had himself anointed as a Shona king, thus joining that elite group of men who believe power makes them Gods -- England's King Canute among them. Canute, it will be recalled, once had himself plonked down at low tide on a beach to demonstrate that he could stop the tide from coming in. Needless to say, he failed. Our Bob, at the weekend attempted a similar trick: He ordered all prices to be cut and then promptly arrested businessmen who failed to obey -- this from an educated man with four degrees. The best example of the inevitable result of this economic lunacy was that when petrol prices were ordered to be reduced by 70 percent, service stations quickly ran dry. It all goes to show that politicians and bureaucrats should be kept well away from the private sector. Anyone in the Department of Minerals and Energy listening?