Ever since Thabo Mbeki befriended Robert Mugabe at Victoria Falls in 2000, most us born Zimbabweans have been shocked, saddened and demoralized by the stance taken by Africa leaders, starting with Mbeki, as regards Mugabe and his thugs.
There has been a consistent theme - "heads" Mugabe wins, "tails" the people lose.
In this way a completely unworkable "power sharing" agreement WAS FORCED on Zimbabwe which, predictably, only worked to Mugabe's advantage.
To be very fair to Mbeki, he was simply displaying a long established culture that is embedded at the United Nations itself. Simply put the cultural dogma is - "leaders matter, people don't!" As a result the UN has long since been a house in which leaders trade in assets, power and influence, regardless of the interests of humanity.

Remember that Idi Amin was being routinely given ovations at the UN just months before he was deposed.
So the UN has always been just about as effective as a punctured condom in advancing the interests of humanity and the planet. That is why we have had Rwanda, Bosnia, Gukuranhundi, and a host of other pogroms, where humanity has been savaged at the whim of leaders.

South Africa has a pretty awful human rights record at the UN, having supported the thugs in Burma and blocking the resolution on rape, just for starters.

Tunisia and Egypt has given the UN a wake up call. Things have now changed fundamentally. Ordinary human beings are no longer prepared to put up with the machinations of bad leaders. The UN appears to have heeded the message.

It appears, so has South Africa. It voted with other nations in supporting a "pro people" resolution as regards Libyia. This is a first for the UN ... and is a 1st for SA.

Our President, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, must be congratulated. In supporting the resolution we even broke ranks with India and Brazil with whom we are understandably aligning ourselves as regards our economic future under IBSA.

We must believe that SA is now aligned to a new culture ... where people come first ... not leaders. It was the vote of "ordinary people" (branch members of the ANC) that got rid of "tyrant loving Mbeki" and installed "people loving Zuma" at Polokwane.
We must believe that JZ will continue to hold a brief for ordinary people.