The South African daily newspaper Sowetan yesterday urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) - of which South Africa is a leading member - to "unequivocally castigate" Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
The black-edited Sowetan proclaimed in an editorial: "Mugabe must be told his time is up". The publication is South Africa's largest daily and the vast majority of the country's 2.1 million readers are black. The tenor of the editorial implicitly rejected the "quiet diplomacy" favoured by President Thabo Mbeki's administration in its dealings with the Zimbabwean government.
Indirectly it contradicted the oft-expressed view in government circles that criticism of President Mbeki's "softly-softly" approach emanated primarily from white-controlled newspapers and the still mainly white opposition Democratic Alliance.
The editorial declared that it should be "amply apparent to all African leaders" that dialogue would not deter Mr Mugabe from his determination to remain in power at all costs.
On the likely rigging of the pending elections, Mr Mugabe's intentions were manifest beyond doubt in two recent developments, the newspaper said. It cited the statement by the Zimbabwean army that it would not "subscribe to free and fair presidential elections if the outcome did not favour Mugabe" and Mr Mugabe's recently enacted "repressive laws, intended to ensure little else but an electoral victory for himself".
Publication of the editorial was timed to coincide with the opening yesterday of the summit in Blantyre, Malawi of the 14-member SADC. But its chances of bringing about an immediate - whatever about a long-term - change in policy by Mr Mbeki's administration appeared to be slight.
Even as the editorial was being printed, the Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Aziz Pahad, was insisting at a pre-summit news conference that there was no alternative to "what is termed quiet diplomacy". Everyone wanted South Africa to do "what they themselves are either not doing or not willing to do", he said.