MUGABE TURNS PRESSURE ON HIS CRITICS: IDOUBLE THE PRESSURE ON HIM

I refer to the latest news of Mugabe demanding that the Opposition must drop its claim for power and threatening Zimbabwe's neighbours who dared to criticise him at the AU. This is really intolerable.

I hope President Thabo Mbeki and all the rotten egg heads at the AU Summit who supported and appeased Mugabe when they should have been firm with him are happy now. Mugabe is not the sort of individual not to be appeased, he will see that as a weakness and, like all cowards, he thrives on others' weaknesses.

What Mugabe wants out of the political talks with MDC is a white wall. All real political power is to remain firmly in his hands. He is a megalomania who has already shown will kill to stay in power and to ensure the truth about him is not divulged. Zimbabweans are dying to end his rotten political system which has pushed the national economy into new world records and inflation soaring into the stratosphere. Never mind his ego, maintaining the status quo is simply not an option Zimbabweans can even consider for one second!

Once again this is not the time for indecision; it is time for firm and decisive action all round. The people of Zimbabwe should take mass action; mass stay-away is the best course for three reasons: 1) an public gatherings will only be met with brutal force. Mugabe is already on a war footing and we do not want to give him the excuse to escalate it. 2) the economy is Mugabe’s greatest weak point. He has been relentless on the political front because he knows; if he eased there the next everyone would be talking about is the economy. And there he has no answers.

The West and G8 countries should freeze some of the aid given to AU and SADC countries that continue to prop up Mugabe economically and politically. Direct pressure will force these African countries to act more responsibly it their dealings with Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe is the archetype villain who will go down quietly; he has to go down with all his guns blazing. He is itching for a fight; we must give him no excuse to start one. He is getting restless and shrill in his demands to be president; the answer must remain an unequivocal NO! Followed by a firm and unequivocal GO!