I first read this expression when used by MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai. Initially I thought that I knew what he meant, but as events have transpired in Zimbabwe lately, I have come to realise that I was wrong.

I thought that the point he referred to was a point where the country’s economy can no longer sustain itself, and no amount of repair jobs or support structures put in place by the ruling party can stop the inevitable.

The ultimate collapse and the beginning of the end of the country Zimbabwe as we know it…

But as we watch the ruling party helping themselves to just about everything that isn’t tied down, and some that is, I now think that Tsvangirai is talking about something else.

ZANU PF is now taking whatever they can to feed themselves and to sustain their extravagant lifestyles. Mugabe just spent an amazing amount of money on the latest, most up to date Mercedes sedans for his 34 ministers.

Where did he secure the money for the purchase?

Simple. He instructed Gono to print more useless Zimbabwean bearer cheques which he then had changed on the black market and used the resulting proceeds to buy motor vehicles which his ministers don’t need.

Mugabe is threatening to take over non-performing companies. Some of the companies that are non-performing are in that situation because of the price slash Presidential order which ensured that selling prices were halved and produce and goods were forcibly sold under their cost price.

There is no business anywhere in the world that can sustain that sort of business.

So Mugabe has set up the company grab and will not hesitate to initiate it when he believes the time is right. Probably a little closer to the elections at the beginning of next year.

And we have seen how the SADC leaders have chosen to ignore Mugabe’s activities against his own people. And they have chosen to be suckered by Mbeki’s false hope report that mediation is the answer and on track.

Now this is where I now believe the “tipping point” to be…

When the Zimbabwean people, a self-respecting, honest people, who have been subject to so much ridicule, wholesale theft, violence, human rights abuses and the loss of the most basic of human dignities - when their patience has worn so thin and their hunger is unbearable, when their personal needs outweigh their political rights and their political wants – that is when they will finally draw a line in the sand and say, “So far, and no further!”

Mugabe, of course, will see this as a nonsensical challenge - and, in all likelihood, will call on the services of his war veterans, his youth militia, the army, the police and the air force - to batter, beat and torment the people once again.

But his armed forces, his veterans and his militia are also struggling under his rule. And instead of going up against the people, the people and Mugabe’s assumed allies, will go up against the government.

And I don’t think it will be a huge rush - a bang, bang, thank you ma’am affair - no, this will be a gentle rise in political temperature and the result will be inevitable, almost preconceived change in political ardour.

Not a public uprising - more a shift or pace and sensibilities - a change of political opinion which will oust Mugabe and his administration in the blinking of an eye.

Yes - there will be bloodshed. Yes - there will be loss of life. But who, in the opposition, or allied to that establishment, would baulk at that option if, by their death, a country like Zimbabwe is freed from the shackles of a desperate, aging and increasingly paranoid Mugabe?

My reading of the situation - that’s all.

Take care.

‘debvhu