....dangles Zanu (PF)'s newest carrot - confiscated shares in international companies - could this be the new election winner winner for Zanu (PF) after having shared the the confiscated land among the chefs.

LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it wanted to see more progress on human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe before the European Union lifts sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his allies.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown defended sanctions on Zimbabwe after talks with South African President Jacob Zuma who has called for them to be lifted.

Zuma played down a controversy caused by comments he made before he left for a state visit to Britain in which he said the British believed they were superior, and said there was no talk in the South African government about mines nationalisation.

Brown and Zuma: nothing has changed...

President Jacob Zuma is quoted by Reuters saying: the Southern African Development Community the body which mandated him to facilitate dialogue between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party and the Movement for Democratic Change, had suggested that sanctions should be lifted, but they could be reimposed if progress was not made by a certain date!

If that was not putting the cart before the horse, then try Morgan Tsvangirai being quoted by the Herald saying the EU must remove all sanctions and give full support to his government, only days after saying negotiations were not bearing any fruit.

Unbreakable... The Mbeki formula is sticking. Mutambara has played his hand.