Eddie Cross: Mugabe no longer functioning effectively as head of state.

Eddie Cross has an as always thoughtful and informed piece on the Zimbabwe Situation on his site and also cross posted at the Zimbabwe Pundit and at Enough is Enough.

Cross posits that Mugabe may already be easing himself out of the day to day duties of head of government--either in anticipation of his retirement or perhaps because of health problems--but that there is some confusion with regard to who is in charge (when he is not):

"Mr. Mugabe is no longer functioning effectively as Head of State – he is working very short hours and for whatever reason is already in a state of semi retirement. He has moved to his new home in Harare and goes into the office late in the morning returning home before midday. Few people are seeing him and it is clear that government is confused and divided – no strong central direction is apparent. Everybody is doing his or her own thing. Then there is the succession debate. Rumors abound about Mugabe’s future plans – they all point to him stepping down and it would appear from our sources that the debate on whether to allow him to remain President until 2010 has been quashed. It would appear to us that he is now committed to retirement in March 2008, if not sooner. A recurrent Zanu PF nightmare is that he might become incapacitated sooner than March 2008, leaving Zanu unprepared for the succession battles that will follow."