The run-off presidential poll in Zimbabwe is slated for June 27, but with the return of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai anything is possible.
Demands by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Tsvangirai, for independent peacekeepers and election monitors by June 1, will be discussed by the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) on Tuesday.
The general sentiment expressed by representatives of Sadc is that monitoring and protection is too costly and time consuming, especially as there are already the Zimbabwe police and military there to protect the citizens.
Yet the MDC claims that many of the killings and beatings emanate from these security forces, presumably at the behest of President Robert Mugabe or his Zanu-PF party supporters, anything less could result in widespread civil strife.
Although MDC supporters are equally to be blamed for physical aggression against Zanu-PF members, the principle "two wrongs do not make a right" was never truer. Neither party is entirely blameless for the violence that has been going on for some time.
But much of the opposition violence is rooted in the conditions people have to suffer due to incompetent governance by Mugabe and his cronies. With inflation estimated to be running at over 165,000 per cent, the sense of despair and desperation is so noticeable as to be almost tangible.
The fear is that Mugabe will use the security forces to curb support for Tsvangirai and the MDC, or will leave it to election day to stuff the ballot boxes as he has done before.
Of course there is also the distinct possibility that he will employ both methods to cling to power, despite the apparent depth in popularity to which he has sunk. Although foreign observers would like it to be so, it is doubtful that this election will pass peacefully.
