I came across this article today, which detailed how Tsvangirai is pulling out of the presidential run-off elections. I thought it was a link bait scam from the title (honest!) but it turns out to be legit: Morgan is backing off. Taken from BBC News :

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he is pulling out of Friday’s presidential run-off, handing victory to President Robert Mugabe.

Mr Tsvangirai said there was no point running when elections would not be free and fair and “the outcome is determined by… Mugabe himself”.

This is hectic, because Mugabe hasn’t got any opposition right now, and Mbeki’s very reluctant to intervene in any useful way. The Zimbabwe crisis is affecting Africa in a very bad way, and if this is any indication, things will probably continue.

I remember Mugabe saying something about bargaining with the MDC after Zanu-PF won the elections. Basically something about Mugabe wanting to quit, but quit on his terms. I guess we’ll see after the elections.

I still believe someone should just get in there, wipe the slate clean, and start over. Zim’s GDP is probably near zero, inflation is unbelievable, yet people still choose to reside there - while it can’t be turned around, I’m pretty darned sure it can be resurrected.

But honestly, now - who cares?