progress.”22 It is no surprise that President Zuma has taken such a position on Zimbabwe; for despite some of the differences in tone in his early public utterances the Zuma presidency’s paradigm on the Zimbabwe crisis remains that set by his predecessor, namely a commitment to a multilateral approach on the issue through SADC, while walking a tightrope between Pan Africanist solidarity and maintaining a dialogue with the West on global economic reform.23 Any forms of pressure that South Africa places on the GPA will thus be guided by the limits of these parameters, in addition to the immense national challenges facing the Zuma presidency itself. Options for Zimbabwe What then are the political options available in the current Zimbabwean context. Three options are considered below: 1. Withdrawal from the GPA. 2. Early Elections. 3. An extended power-sharing period preceding a new election. Option One: MDC Withdrawal from the GPA The factors that pushed the MDC into the GPA IN 2008/09 are for the most part still in operation, namely a combination of the threat of violent state response to attempted mass actions, a social base that has been severely weakened by massive structural economic decline, pressure from SADC and the AU to resolve the issue through an “African solution”, and the limits of Western diplomacy to a problem that remains persistently located in the colonial past. In its brief withdrawal from the GPA in October 2009, the MDC very quickly ran up against these limitations and soon returned to the agreement. For Zanu PF the GPA remains important as an agreement brokered by an African institution, in addition to being a means to both regroup after its 2008 election defeat, and to seek a normalisation of relations with the international community. The Mugabe regime is also acutely aware of the limits of pressure it can expect from SADC, and, at least in the near future, the constraints on any further Western pressure on the situation. With regard to SADC the limits of the regional body’s response to the Mugabe project was made very clear by a former South African facilitator of the SADC mediation, Sydney Mafumadi: In July 2009 he made the point very clearly:                                                              22  Neal Walker,” South African president Jacob Zuma has called into question EU sanctions against Zimbabwe  during a news conference with Gordon Brown.” http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World‐News/South‐African‐ President���Jcob‐Zuma‐ Accessed 04/03/10.  23  For a very good discussion on South African foreign policy see Adam Habib, “South Africa’s Foreign Policy:  Hegemonic Aspirations, Neoliberal Orientations, and Global Transformation”, South African Journal of  International Affairs, 16/2 (August 2009), pp. 143‐59.   10