I had an interesting chat on Skype with a good friend who is also very interested in the situation in Zimbabwe.

Friend: Is Mugabe going to do a go-it-alone?
Me: Looks like it - so no change there
Friend: And arrest the MDC leadership and take everything back
Me: There’s not much to take back!
Me: It is a complete and utter mistake! How can MDC be in government without engagement?
Friend: Parliament. You run your ministries and we’ll run ours
Me: Yes - and Home Affairs which is jointly run?
Friend: Well, according to what I am told, MDC are not included at all anyway so my view is that you run what you can run and mock them at the same time
Me: Yes - very little has changed - except that Zuma and SADC are paying lip service whilst ZANU PF continue with what they have done for 30 years
Friend: That’s right. So what do you think Mugabe is going to do about this?
Friend: Not like him to be quiet. He’s going to do something
Me: Very little. He will tell those who will listen (and those who won’t) that the MDC has pulled out of the GNU and that is that. The fact that ZANU PF lost the general election is beside the point...
Friend: You think he’s going do nothing or very little?
Me: He is already doing it - the assaults continue and the land grab will be ‘completed’...
Friend: There is plenty more he can do
Me: He has no plans to hand any power over...
Friend: The land grab is almost completed
Friend: No white farmers will be left by Xmas - we know that already
Me: He will now gun for more than just Roy Bennett, he will go after Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti and anyone else caught in the net - probably declare martial law and a one party state and sit back and watch how the world reacts. The silence will be deafening...
Friend: Ahhhh now you are talking. So why not write something on those lines?
Friend: Mugabe’s next move
Me: I intend to - just been busy with other things today
Friend: Look the war vets have been saying “you ain’t seen nothing yet”
Me: Yes - and the vast majority of people calling themselves vets are not
Friend: I know that but this is the message they are telling people at the growth points and milling points
Me: And there are more landless blacks than ever because ZANU PF chucked everyone off their newly occupied land... the land was only meant to be for chefs anyway
Me: Yes - I need to write an editorial today - perhaps I should get on it, huh?
Friend: You only have to look at what happened in Russia to know what they are going to do
Me: Yes - and then in Rwanda/Burundi...

With that, my friend went off line - not because he disagreed with me, but because he lost his connection.
But the idea that Zimbabwe may turn into another Rwanda/Burundi - or another Darfur - is a very scary but real prospect.

Whilst Mugabe sits back and laughs at the current state of affairs in Zimbabwe, he is working feverishly in dark streets and behind closed doors to ensure that there will be no come back for the MDC.

He has the military might to squash them like happened in Rwanda and Burundi.

It is sad to say, but Mugabe is not going without a fight and he has bodies aplenty to use as canon fodder before he is forced to either fight to the end or give up (which is something I doubt very much).

Mugabe’s next move is going to be very interesting.

Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man