Mugabe descends to the dance floor

It was only a matter of time. Sooner rather than later, he would have had to make the decision - whether to remain on the balcony or to join his wife on the dance floor.

It is now clear, from events of the last few days, that President Mugabe is now firmly on the dance floor.

Some, like a colleague who wrote to me this week, argue that he was already on the dance floor; that he had long left the balcony and was now jostling with the crowds.

That dimension is not far-fetched. But if that was the case, he was much less visible, lurking, as he was, behind proxies, the main one being his wife, Grace who has unleashed a torrent of abuse on Vice President Joice Mujuru.

When Grace Mugabe twice impetuously refused to shake the hand of his VP at the airport, Mugabe said nothing. When Grace publicly called out for his VP to resign, he said nothing in his subordinate's defence.

When Grace described his VP as lazy, incompetent, dull, corrupt and demonic, Mugabe did not defend Mujuru. When Grace indecorously declared that she had told her husband to "baby-dump" Mujuru and threatened that if he did not, she and her supporters would do the "baby-dumping" so that she would be dinner for wild dogs, Mugabe did not challenge this prescription.

In short, Mugabe had left his vice president to the wild dogs. He had "baby-dumped" her already, following his wife's instructions. Grace could not have been so daring if she did not have the support of her powerful husband.

She was doing the dirty work that he himself did not want to do. But we waited for the day that he would pronounce himself.

In the last few days he has spoken the language that The Herald and other State media has employed for a number of weeks - speeches against so-called sell-outs, against people working with the West, against politicians bribing youth and provincial leaders and all this is directed at Mujuru and her faction.

He has spoken out against those wishing for the end of his rule, the "child", he said, who wants to remove him from power, the "child" and friends who say he is "too old". Grace had already told us that this was one of the charges against Mujuru.

Mugabe yesterday poured vitriol on Jabulani Sibanda, chair of the war veterans and a man who campaigned for him vigorously in last year's election. Sibanda has openly refused to join a group of war veterans that is denigrating Mujuru, arguing that he would not lead a "boardroom and bedroom coup".