I understand as l write, that Morgan Tsvangirai is in South Africa. I am guessing he went there for talks. Leaving their millions of supporters in the dark. He will sit there twiddling his thumbs, waiting for ZANU PF to deign to show up, or listening to Mbeki propose some “quiet solution” to the crisis. If by the MDC’s accounts, they won the election, why are they so eager to “negotiate” and form a government of national unity? Why are they not behaving like the winners they are? This reminds of the time Tsvangirai and hordes of other MDC and non MDC activists were battered by the regime in March 07. That was another pivotal moment when the MDC could have galvanised popular action against the regime, but what did they do? They retreated to Pretoria to negotiate with their batterers, cooling their heels, while waiting for the regime’s representatives to deign to show up. All the while we waited and wondered what was happening. When we finally got word of the outcome of their negotiations, we had been sold down the drain! MDC had consented to the 18th Constitutional amendment. Given that precedent, l can be forgiven for being apprehensive everytime Tsvangirai and his team head down south, what can possibly come out of South Africa and Mbeki that has not happened in the 10 years since this current crisis first manifested itself?

Just don’t hold your breath, Tsvangirai is not going to be leading this protest. Talk about leadership crisis!