The increasingly unpredictable twists and turns taken by President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on his controversial landgrab scheme could leave him internationally isolated, political analysts said yesterday.
Mr Mugabe's hardline policies are also likely to bring more domestic pressure against his ZANU-PF party, which barely survived its electoral challenge in June and on Wednesday was hit by a crippling national strike, they said.
Just a day after appearing to give ground with a promise to remove war veterans illegally occupying hundreds of white-owned farms by month's end, Mr Mugabe said he was determined to seize over 3,000 farms for the veterans and landless peasants.
This came a day after a broadly backed one-day strike called by the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, who has been trying for months to lead him back into the international fold.
The strike, which was also backed by the white farmers' association and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was called to protest violence against opposition supporters, farmers and farm workers.
Prof Alfred Nhema, chairman of the political science department at the University of Zimbabwe, said Mugabe's latest turnaround was bound to increase domestic and international pressure.
"Many countries around the world, including those Zimbabwe badly needs for its economic wellbeing, are going to give up on its government," he said.
Dr Solomon Nkiwane, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said Mr Mugabe risked isolation even on the regional diplomatic stage and could alienate Mr Mbeki.
"He is behaving in such a way it is very difficult for people to defend him," he said. "It is also difficult to say who is benefiting from his so-called hardline policies. The majority of the people have not, and the results of the general elections show his party is not a beneficiary either."
Zimbabwe's economy is bleeding. Foreign reserves are virtually depleted, unemployment is at a record 50 per cent, inflation is at 60 per cent, interest rates are up at 70 per cent and the country has a severe fuel shortage.
International donors abandoned Mr Mugabe's government last year over his controversial policies, including a costly intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a third of his army is deployed in support of President Laurent Kabila.
Analysts say Mugabe should be working to restore confidence in the country, not undermine it.
Mr Emmanuel Magade, a political commentator and law lecturer, said Mr Mugabe had clearly chosen the land issue as his political card and the war veterans and landless peasants as his constituency to retain power.
However, senior Mugabe aides say the 76-year-old former guerrilla leader - in power since independence in 1980 - is convinced his actions are in the interest of all Zimbabweans. "The president is a nationalist at heart, and the world is out to demonise him," said one.