Fly on the Wall?
I managed to miss this somehow. Apparently, the Guardian has found someone brave, desperate or disillusioned enough witih Zanu-PF to leak details of Mugabe’s crisis cabinet. If the article is right, all the fears about Mugabe utterly refusing to concede in any fashion are perfectly justified:
“In the JOC meeting there were two options for Mugabe: to declare victory on Sunday or declare martial law,” said the diplomat. “They did not consider conceding. We understand Mugabe nearly decided to declare victory. Cooler heads prevailed. It was decided to use the [election commission] process of drip, drip where you release results over a long period, giving the opposition gains at first but as time wears on Zanu-PF pulls ahead.”
Interestingly, it appears that there were some figures within the JOC who favoured a less hardline approach, who were over-ruled. Could Mugabe face further break-aways from Zanu-PF if he’s too intransigent, or if the situation looks favourable for defectors?
EDIT: And, just on cue, the rumours of a behind-the-scenes retirement deal for Mugabe are pretty comprehensively crushed. Whether that’s because they never happened, or because they did, but collapsed, and no-one’s willing to talk about it, is another question. And given the secret nature of secret talks, one that’s unlikely to be answered, unless someone finds another fly…
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