Zimbabwe Update -- Is This the End of Bobby?

Let us sincerely hope so!

BBC Reports:

[I]nfluential members of the ruling party and the Opposition are mapping out an end to the Mugabe era.

Opposition sources say leading members of President Robert Mugabe's own party have discussed how to sideline their longstanding leader.

Mr Mugabe's iron grip on his own party is gradually loosening. Two factions inside the party, led by former security chief Emmerson Mnangagwa and the former head of the Army, Solomon Mujuru, have held talks to try a find an exit strategy.

They have met Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who was beaten by police after being arrested at an anti-Mugabe rally earlier this month.

The talks have been held in the run-up to a key meeting of the central committee of the ruling Zanu-PF party, due to be held next week, at which Mr Mugabe will confront his critics.

Read the whole thing here.

But don't get your hopes too far up. Mugabe's demise has been predicted before and the old madman is still around. Also, note that the source for this report is the opposition leadership which has never been right about anything in the past. And there is also the possibility that Mad Bobby's "critics" will either recant or fail to live long enough to attend the upcoming party meetings.

And, even if a coup is in the making, there is no real likelihood that Bobby's successor will be any improvement. Emmerson Mnangagwa has been complicit in the worst of Mugabe's crimes against humanity and heads a criminal conspiracy that has made him the richest man in Zim.

Solomon Mujuru is no better. His crimes have been so great that he and his wife have been personally singled out for sanctions by western governments.

Both men have strong institutional and tribal power bases and have long hated each other. Should Mugabe be removed, there is a strong possibility that they will square off in a bloody civil war.

So don't get your hopes up too much. Just a little.