Aged Mugabe will never obey rules, it could be time we follow our own rules!

Failure to implement what was agreed in the Global Political Agreement is turning Zimbabwe into a nightmare. 

Most of the disagreements which threaten peace in Zimbabwe are brought about by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF who are clearly not willing to compromise positions that keep them in power.

Also his supporters, the people he protects, are big in the business of looting the country and therefore see no point in him agreeing with fellow coalition partners.

Last week, Mugabe reappointed Commissioner of Police Augustine Chihuri without any of the consultations required by the GPA. He is most likely to do the same with the army boss, Constantine Chiwenga, whose term expires in a few months. 

A letter from the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai addressed to President Mugabe was apparently leaked to state media (one wonders how that happens).

Anyway, much of it contains complaints after complaints to Mugabe.

It is his right and duty as Prime Minister to communicate with Mugabe on such issues but I thought by now the writing was on the wall that Mugabe does not give a sh** about what the PM thinks.

At his age and degree of insanity there is no way he can allow a situation that weakens his position as a President and risk being charged for war crimes.

What is also interesting about the PM's letter is the interpretation which it was given by some sections of the media.

They suggest Tsvangirai now wants an election this year, which would beg the question of what Mugabe holds over him that has persuaded him to change his position of calling for total reforms before elections.

However it is not clear where this interpretation really comes from â€" it would be helpful to get clarification from either the papers or the PM's office.

So then what should we do with Mr Mugabe? Do we do normal things or go the "any means necessary" route?

Voting Zanu PF out of power in the forthcoming elections would be the normal thing to do. However, it's clear, that preparations for bloody elections are being put in place. 

Given that, I believe that people are left with one way forward â€" to force Mugabe to negotiate better conditions for free and fair elections.

How then do we force Mugabe?

We lobby political and civil society leaders to engage Zanu PF in more aggressive tactics by directing the struggle back to the streets and letting people own it.

When people own the struggle, elements of civil disobedience become natural given the oppression they face now.

Sometimes we hear people talking of the "fat cat" syndrome, saying some leaders of the former opposition parties are now finding it hard to radicalise the struggle because of their current status in government.

This could be true because even though the government is comprised of different political parties, they are expected to share the burden of governing. In this process Zanu PF has been defiant and often ignores the democratic rules and procedures.

It is only MDC people who get arrested and usually MDC Ministers have shown that they have no power to help their fellow comrades.

We have heard stories of sharp differences in Parliament but other behaviour we have seen runs counter to this as we see total agreement on Parliament benefits and only a few MPs have shown real compassion towards the Zimbabwean people.

Government spending remains high and visible, with examples of how much monies are being spent on programs like COPAC versus the progress being made. So we can understand the "fat cats" accusations and we understand why there has been little civic activism against bad rules and a hard time presenting a united front against Mugabe.

Nowadays demonstrations are lacking vigilance in message and most of the times are directed at someone else, not Mugabe and his regime. Fewer and fewer struggle men are prepared to sabotage Zanu PF's pillars of support whereas before,  Zanu-PF people were exposed to the big risk of operating business in Zimbabwe.

If we look at other countries faced by same or worse dictatorships, the people there struggled aggressively even to the point of picking up arms as in the case of Libya â€" although not many prefer it this way and I am certainly not advocating the path of violence as there are many powerful non-violent we can also consider.

Wouldn't it be great if one morning all of Harare or Bulawayo came to work to find that the main streets had been "renamed" for pro-democracy heroes?

We had planned to do something like this just before I left Zimbabwe back in 2002 and all it takes is a handful of committed people and very limited resources.

Over to you my friends â€" I hope to read about this or other exciting activities in the independent media sometime soon!

We always talk about how Zimbabwe is full of literate, educated people but none of this literacy and intellect is expressed when it comes to building democracy and unity for peace.

People have become so self-centred with everything, to the extent of breaking laws and constitutional arrangements to protect people of their choice.

This behaviour has weakened chances of a popular revolution but going forward people will have to think otherwise.

There is a massive internet revolution and technological advances through which, if used wisely, the space for dictatorship can be closed.

We saw it in Tunisia and Egypt. It could be time we prepare for it in Zimbabwe.

Laws control the lesser man.  Right conduct controls the greater one.  ~Chinese Proverb