In a statement later Mr Dexter said he was expressing his personal view, and it was not party policy to remove Mr Mugabe by military means. But if democracy no longer existed in the country, he said, "the Zimbabwean people would have no alternative other than to mobilise to remove him".In practical terms, the prospect of South African troops massing on the Zimbabwean border is remote, even if Cope were to win the general election due next year - and its popularity has yet to be tested at the ballot box.