The decision by the MDC not to vote again under the current violent circumstances prevailing in Zimbabwe is acceptable because it will save lives-people are being murdered by the army, the police, the CIO, and the "Green bombers"-ZanuPF party thugs..etc. The victims are mere civilians with no weapons to defend themselves. So how can they vote?

The trouble is that President Mugabe thinks that he is the only person who is clever in the world. After losing an election, instead of giving up power he decided to unleash a campaign of violence against the opposition, then try to cow people into a fraudalent election, so that he can "win" and then claim legitimacy..I mean why do world leaders allow such things to happen? There is no need for another election. According to the constitution any run off should have been conducted 21 days after the official result was announced. This was not done-therefore there is no way that Mugabe can ever be legitimate. This leaves him with only one option which is to step down. He cannot talk of handing over power to a third party because he doesn't hold any legal power at the moment. Does this make any sense to anyone? Now that the matter is under the UN Security council we will wait. If we are not satisfied with the UN action, we will start giving Mugabe and his party, time schedules to pack and leave or face unspecified retaliation-this is not a threat but a warning which cannot be ignored.

Mugabe can only suppress the population for a limited time and eventually, there will be a uprising. Hunger and poverty is already causing a nucleus of unrest and all it requires now is for someone to take the initiative and turn the ripple into a tidal wave. The military is loyal to Mugabe, but for how long ? The general rank and file and non commissioned officers who do not enjoy Mugabe's favours all have extended families who are at their mercy and it is becoming more and more evident that they (the military)are losing faith in having to kill and maime their own kith and kin. Desertions are commonplace which is an indication that the situation in the army is not well. One would hope that this will never happen, but sadly it may be the only way of ridding Mugabe and his government from power.

In your fourth paragraph the writer says Arthur Mutambara took part in the presidential electon as the head of a splinter group of the MDC. This is not true. Authur Mutambara withdrew to back the leader of a Zanu faction-Simba Makoni.

I have been following events in Zimbabwe for over a decade. Two issues have always been in the forefront, in my opinion. First, the people of Zimbabwe are not strong enough to remove or even confront Mugabe. Second, the worst enemy of Zimbabwe is Mbeki. Over the years I have read untold number of news articles where someone says the Mugabe must go, but no one does anything to replace him. Or we read that we can't live another day with this old man in power. However, you are still alive and Mugabe is still in power. Leaders outside Zimbabwe keep saying that Zimbabwe must find it's own resolution to these problems. People inside Zimbabwe keep asking who on the outside will save them. Any other selfrespecting people would have long since taken up arms and at least tried to correct the problem themselves. But not Zimbabwe, they want someone else to do their dirtywork for them. Mbeki. Look into the past. Who could have stopped Mugabe in his tracks whenever they wanted? Look at the situation today. Who can stop Mugabe immediately and put an end to this madness? The answer is Mbeki and South Africa. Has Mbeki done anything productive to end the situation, or has he made the situation even worse because of his very obvious affection for Mugabe? Why Mbeki was picked for mediator is outside of human understanding. Why Mbeki continues to be the chosen mediator might even be considered to be criminal in nature. Mbeki and Mugabe have a father-son relationship. Mbeki will never effectively stand up to Mugabe. Mbeki will never openly criticize Mugabe. In the end, Mbeki will be the person who ultimately protects Mugabe from the outside world. As for the other African leaders, most see themselves in the same position as Mugabe sometime in the future. They realize that anything they might do to criticize Mugabe may very well come back to haunt them. Some are just as corrupt and brutal as Mugabe. Like Mugabe, many will have to ask a friendly government to take them in when their time in power is past. For Zimbabwe to expect real help from fellow SADC countries is a joke. The only factor that might change the SADC attitude is eight or ten million more immigrant from Zimbabwe running across the border. Does anyone else see the connection between the recent immigrant attacks in SA and the situation in Zimbabwe? Thank you.