Just in case you were wondering: The chances of a breakthrough deal in Zimbabwe are still highly unlikely. The only hope, it would seem, would be for enough SADC leaders to have come to the conclusion that enough is enough and thus to shift that body's stance toward one of applying real pressure on Robert Mugabe to step down or otherwise yield. There is a part of me that believes that if the SADC leaders do not take such a stance this week when they meet in South Africa, Mugabe will only leave office feet first, meaning we will have to rely on actuarial tables doing the work that southern Africa's leaders so far have shown no inclination to do.