President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa flies to Harare today where he will join forces with Nigerian counterpart, President Olusegun Obasanjo, in an effort to obtain a commitment from President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and his defeated challenger, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, on the formation of a government of national unity.
Mr Mbeki and Mr Obasango meet the Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, in London tomorrow to decide what action should be taken against Mr Mugabe's government after the Commonwealth Observer Mission's finding that Zimbabwe's presidential election was conducted in "a climate of fear" and that it "did not adequately allow for a free expression of will by the electors".
Mr Mbeki is anxious to avoid compounding the grave economic problems in Zimbabwe. He wants to promote co-operation between Zimbabwe's political adversaries in the national interest and in the interests of regional stability and open the way for the international assistance which Zimbabwe desperately needs.
A South African government spokesman, Mr Joel Neshitenzhe, said: "The exact form of co-operation will be decided by the various role-players in Zimbabwe."
Meanwhile, in South Africa there is growing dissent over the "interim finding" of the South African Observer Mission (SAOM) that the outcome of the Zimbabwe's election "should be considered legitimate".
Mr Bobby Godsell, chairman of the giant AngloGold mining company and a representative of big business on the SAOM is "confused and uncomfortable about the use of word 'legitimate' to describe the Zimbabwe poll".
Noting that the SAOM chairman, Mr Sam Motsuenyane, has conceded that the poll cannot be described as "free and fair", Mr Godsell asks how an election can be deemed legitimate if it is not found to be free and fair.
Another prominent member of the 50-strong SAOM, Ms Brigalia Bam, head of South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission, stated flatly: "The elections were not free and fair. I would not want to describe them as legitimate."
The secretary general of the Southern African Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church, Father Richard Menatsi, is quoted in the Afrikaans newspaper Beeld as saying the conclusion of the SAOM made him nauseous.