There’s an interesting comment piece in today’s Herald and picked up on by the BBC that, while indulging in the usual bashing of the West, would suggest that Zanu-PF may be beginning to realise that they can’t completely steal this election. On the assumption that the Herald is the State mouthpiece and won’t publish anything without at least tacit approval from Zanu-PF, then the following extracts raise some interesting points:

Indeed the Zimbabwean situation is “dire”, but not all is lost. Zimbabwe and Africa and the progressive international community can turn it around.

[...]

Accordingly, the most viable and safest way forward is for the Sadc to mediate negotiations for a transitional government of national unity, which will:

(a) Call on the international community to compel Europe and the US to urgently lift their economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.
(b) Write, with the assistance of experienced Sadc members and the international community, a new constitution for Zimbabwe which will be adopted only after a national referendum.
(c) In collaboration with SADC and invited members of the international community, organise fresh free and fair elections.

2) The Zimbabwe Government and independent international observers are agreed that the just-ended harmonised elections did not produce an outright winner in the presidential race. It is unlikely that the on-going recount will substantively alter that position.

Accordingly, it stands to reason that, the transitional government of national unity, negotiated by the two leading contending parties, under the mediation of Sadc, supported by the international community, should be led by the incumbent president.

“Dire” situation? “Transitional” government of “national unity”? And talk of both from the Herald? Reality must really be beginning to sink in. But wait, it gets better:

The peace and security of Zimbabwe, that it has enjoyed since independence, is at great risk. Whilst the ruling party must stop behaving like a wounded buffalo, the opposition party must stop its hysterics and lapses into delusion.

The ruling party, as the senior and more experienced organisation, both nationally and internationally, needs to show greater self-restraint and maturity, irrespective of how much it might feel justifiably angered by developments in the last few weeks.

Amongst themselves, there will be no harm in Zanu-PF leaders making a candid introspection of themselves, noting past problems and challenges, and rising to counter them with greater determination.

The party should allow MDC-T, now in virtual exile, to return home and freely negotiate its participation in a Sadc-mediated process that should lead to the establishment a transitional government of national unity…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such strong criticism of Zanu-PF from the state media. The article suggests that Mugabe should be President in any GNU, of course, and doesn’t hold back on criticising the MDC’s recent public proclamations (calling them “hysterics” and “hallucinations”, while also admitting that… “they have already invested substantially in a future stable Zimbabwe for themselves and their children”), but I don’t think the significance of the piece should be ignored.

If the article is a feeler for a settlement, then it’s up to both sides to see what can be done to explore the possibility. I just fear that enough harm has been done on the ground, thanks to recent violence, that there may be no bringing Zanu-PF and the MDC together.

The Herald’s website doesn’t archive their articles, but you can find the full piece at AllAfrica.