Not much is predictable in politics, but it is more than a fair bet that Robert Mugabe will be “re-elected” as president of Zimbabwe this week. If you use the state to murder and terrorise your opponents in sufficient numbers and tear up ballot papers, you tend to get a majority. Mr Mugabe is not shy about this. “We will never allow an event like an election to reverse our independence, our sovereignty,” he pronounced last week. “Only God who appointed me will remove me – not the MDC, not the British.”

The madness of Mr Mugabe is beyond parody. The opposition MDC should pull out of this charade of an election, which can never be free or fair. Writing in The Sunday Times today, Peter Hain, the former anti-apartheid campaigner and Africa minister, says that it is time for other African leaders, and in particular “South African apologists”, to call time. The Mugabe of today bears no relation to the liberation leader they once admired. There is nothing colonial or racist about wishing the end of a dictator who has destroyed his country and inflicted misery on his people.

Five years ago, confronted with a mad, violent dictator unresponsive to international pressure, the United States and Britain decided armed intervention was the only option. That military adventure in Iraq has clearly not gone to plan (indeed, there was not much of a plan), but there has to come a point when hand-wringing over Zimbabwe is not enough.

African states have to condemn Mr Mugabe and demand that there is no election. As Mr Hain proposes, the first election result should be acknowledged and there should be a new coalition government including members of Mr Mugabe’s party. It may be repugnant but it would be pragmatic to pardon Mr Mugabe. We need to learn the lessons of excluding the Ba’ath party from post-invasion Iraq. If he does not respond, South Africa should precipitate a final collapse by ensuring the lights are switched off. The world has tolerated Mr Mugabe long enough.

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