WILL long-time Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe announce he's standing down in this afternoon's State of the Nation Address (Sona)?
Don’t hold your breath!
That at least is what many Zimbabweans are feeling ahead of the president's Sona address in parliament at 2.30pm.
That doesn't mean this speech won't be watched very closely indeed.
After all, it was last year’s Sona address that Mugabe, then 91, messed up, determinedly rereading it at the opening of parliament in September. The embarrassing mess-up was later blamed on a secretary.
The possibility of Mugabe standing down has been especially big in Zimbabweans' minds following the defeat of Gambian strongman Yahya Jammeh at the weekend and Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos' surprise announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2017. Dos Santos has been in power one year longer than Mugabe, who assumed power at independence in 1980.
Commenting on Jammeh's electoral defeat (and apparent willingness to concede it), one Zimbabwean said on Twitter that it was "a feeling we will always imagine and dream of".
Mugabe was supposed to give this speech last week but he was in Cuba for Fidel Castro's funeral.
So if he's not announcing his retirement on Tuesday, what will the Zimbabwe president say?
Judging from previous Sonas, Mugabe is likely to mention sanctions, drought and economic empowerment. There are unlikely to be any fiery political outbursts.
