It is not how he would have wanted the script to end.
President Robert Mugabe would have wanted to retire in a
blaze of lights and cameras with the world at his feet, Zimbabwe ululating and
his wife firmly on the throne.
Mugabe has been resisting pressure from the army to step
down since he was put under house arrest last Wednesday, but analysts agreed
that the writing was now on the wall.
“It is a matter of time. He is gone,” academic Ibbo Mandaza
said on Friday.
“This, in my view, is the best time for a national
transitional authority, an independent body to take the country forward,
possibly headed by a cleric.
“We must all guard against allowing the opportunists, in
the opposition in particular, cashing in on the situation.”
Mandaza urged human rights groups to keep a keen eye on how
those being arrested by the military were being treated while in custody.
“Even if we hate those being arrested, their rights should
be respected,” he said.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer Eldred Masunungure said
astute negotiations were Mugabe’s only chance for a respectable exit. “Mugabe is under siege. He is a prisoner of his own
lieutenant,” he said.
“The best is for him to negotiate a favourable exit. The
soldiers are aware they cannot revert to the pre-November 15 situation. It
would be suicidal for them to do that”.
Harare-based political analyst Shakespear Hamauswa said
Mugabe’s delaying tactics were not going to save him from a premature exit.
“That is the end. Fortunately for him, it is going to be a
dignified end. He is negotiating his exit,” he said.
“If he refuses, that will be delaying tactics and his party
will recall him and the parliamentarians can impeach him. He is finished.”
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