It has been three weeks since Zimbabwe's voters went to the polls. They are still waiting for the results. By all appearances, they have had enough of President Robert Mugabe and gave opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) the reins of power. Mr. Mugabe and his cronies, however, are clinging to power. A summit of African leaders failed to convince Mr. Mugabe to put his country's interests before his own, a ranking of priorities that Mr. Mugabe has not shown for many years, but the Harare government is digging in. The corruption of Zimbabwe's democracy and its slide into violence look complete.

Mr. Mugabe has become a sad parody of the much respected independence leader he once was. After coming to power at Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, Mr. Mugabe has presided over the virtual destruction of what was once the breadbasket of Africa. When he lost a referendum on a new constitution in 2000 — his first defeat at the polls — Mr. Mugabe began a land redistribution campaign that ran white farmers out of the country and promised to give their land to veterans of the independence war. In fact, much of the land went to his cronies and supporters. The result was the destruction of the agricultural sector and the beginning of a dizzying slide into economic collapse.

Today, millions of Zimbabweans have fled to neighboring countries. Of those that stayed, 80 percent are jobless and rely on foreign assistance to survive. Official figures for February showed inflation at 164,900 percent. All staples, including energy, are in short supply if they can be found at all. Mr. Mugabe has blamed foreigners and white settlers for this state of affairs, and charges that Mr. Tsvangirai and his MDC are fronts for foreign interests.