This idea seems to have suddenly materialized in the air.
I suspect that it is pure manipulation to get the west to back off for a while.
Or perhaps it was just that someone picked the wrong mushrooms.
The only time I ever lived in a country that had a coup was in Libya when young army officers overthrew King Idris when he was out of the country. It may be that reality IS starting to hit home among the elites. Their relatives from the homelands and townships may be showing up on their doorsteps, as Africans are likely to do.
Their children's lives HAVE been disrupted; reports about Comrade Moyo's Christmas holiday notwithstanding, not all of the numerous party members who show up at the annual ZANU Convention are doing well.
The shortage of forex is DESPERATE. Some of the elite are on medication which can only be purchased out-of-country for example (these guys are getting old).
The party HAS in fact been trying to get Mugabe to step down for at least since the fiasco of the constitutional proposals, voted down by the populace, and setting the stage for much of what transpired.
I don't have any secret information, just my own long term relationships with some of these people. It is very difficult to get anyone to be forthcoming as EVERYONE assumes they are being listened to vis a vis phone, and now having their e-mails read.
I hope that the opposition plays this very carefully. My concern about the physical well-being of the people there is beginning to come into conflict with gut instincts on the better political moves for them.
It was, after all, politics that created this mess.
Another thing to always consider, is that I simply cannot get into the heads of people who could justify starving children for political gain.