Cynics will undoubtedly pour cold water on the latest attempts by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to resolve the vexed Zimbabwean problem, but that should come as no surprise.

Cynics will undoubtedly pour cold water on the latest attempts by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to resolve the vexed Zimbabwean problem, but that should come as no surprise.

Earlier attempts were feeble at best, and marked by egg-dancing that amounted to a betrayal of the suffering masses in Zimbabwe.

There are no easy answers and matters are complicated by the fact that Mugabe's Zanu-PF cronies have defended him incessantly.

But there's a sense that, this time around, President Thabo Mbeki, who has been assigned the task of mediator by the SADC, might just make Mugabe see the light.

Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change is hopeful - and so are we.