Game Over?

Posted by ZDN on August 26, 2009

26 August 2009 – ZDN correspondent:

More than one independent source in Dubai has confirmed that Robert Mugabe (85) is undergoing emergency treatment for a terminal condition in hospital.

A sudden dash from Namibia to the UAE via Harare kept the failing leader from several important appointments last weekend. It is likely that Mugabe may also miss his chance to parade about with Jacob Zuma at the official opening of the Harare Show this Friday.

Zimbabwean hospitals – even private ones – are not good enough for top officials within ZanuPF; the party has presided over the almost total disintegration of the health sector in Zimbabwe. Mugabe however has a personal urologist who has been treating his condition for years.

If Mugabe does not survive his malignant cancer, the implications are interesting at this delicate stage of ZanuPF’s political balancing act. With a recent nationwide poll giving ZanuPF just 10% of support, holding onto power in the face of overwhelming public disapproval is going to be a difficult task.

• Joice Mujuru is now alone as Vice President after the recent death in office of Joseph Msika.

• Emmerson Mnangagwa “Son of God” and Defence Minister already has a strategy to put himself in the Presidential palace as soon as possible.

• Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai theoretically outranks both, and has the majority of the people behind him as well as international support.

Should Mugabe pass away, the news would probably be greeted with jubilation among the suffering citizenship, but Morgan Tsvangirai’s situation would immediately become extremely dangerous, given the murderous track record of the above two wanna-be Presidents.

Add to this political brew the most explosive ingredient of all – money interests – and you have a recipe for a vicious civil war on South Africa’s doorstep.

The Chinese are already well entrenched with the Zimbabwean Government in debt to them, and with vast mineral and agricultural contracts on the point of being exploited.

Zimbabwe’s platinum reserves are a prize over which Australian, South African, Chinese and other interests are squabbling, and the presence of rich deposits of alluvial diamonds in the Marange area, presently under military control, increases the potential for conflict.

South Africa, SADC and the United Nations should be moving very fast to contain the situation in Zimbabwe, failing which there could be a new Somalia in the southern African region within weeks.

Mobilising and providing finance and logistics for an emergency election in Zimbabwe should be moved to the top of every agenda in the region.

A supervised election would be Zimbabwe’s often-prayed-for chance to finally emerge from the darkness of tyranny and failure, into a new beginning