– Those voters – who do not have the indelible ink mark signifying that they have participated today – are at risk of future retribution.
– Within 12 hours, Mugabe will proclaim his victory in the Presidential run-off. No reliable figures are available for his margin of victory, but emphasis is being placed on making it “realistic”.
– He will have the power to appoint Governors, as well as a Cabinet. He will move quickly to announce a new Government.
– The Mutambara faction of MDC MPs will be bought off in a version of a Government of National Unity (GNU). One or two senior members of this faction will be offered senior positions in this Government.
– Welshman Ncube has been offered the position of Speaker.
– In the medium- to long-term, MDC MPs will be neutralised by arrest, detention or placatory alternative jobs.
– Mugabe intends to fly to Sharm El-Sheikh on Saturday, in order to attend the African Union summit and act as de facto Head Of State.
– SA President Thabo Mbeki will be first to endorse the GNU, as vindication of his policy of Quiet Diplomacy and the ideal end-game that he had always espoused. Mbeki yesterday in Parliament reserved the right to endorse the elections today.
– There will be a subsequent, systematic plan of endorsing the GNU, following Mbeki’s initial support.
– Mugabe has verbally promised to step down within 6 months (i.e. December), although this is a well-established pattern-of-behaviour from which he has reneged on repeatedly.
– The only time this strategy has been necessary before was at independence in 1980, after which Mugabe quickly squeezed the Joshua Nkomo ZAPU faction out of existence. This was followed by the Matabeleland Massacre.
This information is confidential.
Post published in: News