More Storm Clouds Gathering

President Robert Mugabe should  be given credit that he is still willing to face the rigours and challenges of political life and high office at the age of 87. It is said that politics can be addictive, so maybe, like many before him, president Mugabe needs the fix, the power, and adulation that the presidency provides.

Leading Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 and in charge of the country ever since, president Mugabe it seems is of the view that without his leadership and guidance, the country will succumb.

But then, many maintain that president Mugabe fears that humiliation and retaliation will follow should he be ousted from office. It would be extremely embarrassing and unbearable to be confronted with and asked to answer to a charge sheet covering many years of misrule.

Images of his good friend and ally, Brother Leader Gaddafi, on the run and pleading against all odds and with little success for his supporters to come to his rescue must be discomforting for the old Zimbabwean president.

Clinging to power

To prevent an undignified end to his rule of more than 30 years, Mugabe has little option but to try and cling to power as long as possible. He knows it as do his senior colleagues and friends that have for all these years shared in the spoils. They are applying pressure on the old leader to step into the ring one more time. He is their only chance, although slim, to deliver for Zanu-PF another five years in power in a free and fair election. And, he is the only candidate that can keep the fractured Zanu-PF together.

Why else would Mugabe defiantly announce that elections will be held by March 2012 knowing full well that the agreed election roadmap is not only far from complete but also way behind schedule.

Shifting the blame, the Zimbabwean president also accused the power-sharing MDC of stalling the process to prolong the life of the fragile unity government for, as he put it, to share in the spoils of being part of government.

On more than one occasion the president also said that the unity government he was forced into for two years has run its course - a sentiment the MDC shares but all the parties included in the unity government agreed to a set of conditions before elections for a new government can take place.

One of the conditions requires a new constitution and its approval by way of a referendum. The process has fallen way behind schedule and has become a serious impediment to finding a suitable date for elections in Zimbabwe.

The power-sharing deal mandated an eight-month lapse after acceptance of a new constitution before any election can take place. This means the earliest election date is September 2012, if the referendum takes place in January 2011 as now planned.

Other outstanding requirements include the creation of an independent electoral commission, a new voters' roll, new electoral districts and a supervised, free, fair and transparent poll. And, to top it all off the MDC is demanding a clean-up of the biased security establishment.

Dilemma

Mugabe’s unexpected election announcement also poses a dilemma for President Zuma in his capacity as SADC mediator in Zimbabwe’s political gridlock. The South African president vowed not to back down on fulfilling a SADC resolution to deploy three SADC delegates to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee to track compliance to the SADC brokered political roadmap for Zimbabwe.

A defiant Mugabe said however that Zanu-PF would never permit outside interference and a party spokesperson insisted that Zanu-PF will not receive the SADC trio.

Mugabe and his followers have yet again moved the goalposts and decided to draw a new line in the sand.

The reaction by Lindiwe Zulu, the outspoken South African  facilitator who does not mince her words “that we’ve gone past that discussion” as to interference in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs, hints at a steadily growing irritation with president Mugabe and his party.

The next few weeks promises to be interesting.

WikiLeaks

Mugabe’s election bombshell was largely overshadowed by the contents of the latest batch of cables released by WikiLeaks.

The sudden announcement of an election date was supposed to show that Mugabe is still in full control and he is still calling the shots.

The release of hundreds of cables drafted by the US embassy in Harare and covering the past couple of years, paints a different picture. It tells a story of intrigue, gossip and back-biting in Zanu-PF with  Mugabe at the centre that must make Niccolo Machiavelli smile.

The revelations have clearly set the cat among the pigeons prompting a senior Zanu-PF spokesperson to describe it as “disturbing.”

With Mugabe’s age regularly raised as an obstacle in the search for a solution to Zimbabwe’s political crisis the president and his spin doctors are once again challenged to counter the claims that he is terminally ill.

Claims that the Zimbabwean president is suffering from prostate cancer is  a public secret in Zimbabwe and his frequent absence from the country on visits to Malaysia is normally attributed to less serious ailments.

No wonder it is saip that Mugabe is “seething with anger.”

The Zimbabwean president must be extremely disappointed to hear that some of his most trusted colleagues and confidantes went behind his back to collude with of all people, the Americans.

While dining and wining with diplomats of the US embassy in Harare senior Zanu-PF members and office bearers expressed their disenchantment and dismay with Mugabe in highly unflattering terms with most suggesting that the president has overstayed his welcome and his political departure Would be a blessing.

These revelations have added oil to the fire and must be causing consternation within Zanu-PF ranks still reeling from the recent death of Solomon Mujuru under highly suspicious circumstances.

Zanu-PF has reportedly started with an internal probe to identify and name and shame the culprits. Attorney-General Johannes Tomana has even threatened with charges of high treason!

It would be impossible to verify the accuracy of the WikiLeaks cables and there are suggestions that some were deliberately planted. Although this is highly unlikely and even if some of the leaked cables later proved to be somewhat generous with the truth, it is difficult to see how ZANU-PF is going to recover from these latest setbacks.

It is also difficult to imagine that all of Zimbabwe will sympathise with their president and his woes.