The South African government is edging towards requesting the head of state in neighbouring Botswana to exercise his prerogative and save a white South African woman from the gallows.
Its initial hesitancy to intercede on behalf of Marietta Bosch appears to have been prompted by two considerations: a desire not to be seen to interfere in the judicial process of a sovereign state and the serious nature of Bosch's crime (she murdered her best friend, Maria Wolmarans, in order to marry her husband).
In the past few days, however, spokesmen for the SA government have moved through three stages:- rejection of intercession; floating it as a possible option; and admitting that the issue of whether to intercede is under consideration by President Thabo Mbeki's office following an approach for help from Bosch's family.
Since it came to power in 1994 South Africa's African National Congress government has taken a firm stand against the death penalty.
Its abhorrence of execution, which is derived in part from its use as an instrument of control over the black majority during the apartheid era, is reinforced by a 1995 Constitutional Court ruling declaring the death penalty to be in contravention of the human rights enshrined in the post-apartheid constitution.
The government has refused to bow to recurring pressure, from its own black supporters as much as the white minority, for the restoration of the death penalty as a necessary weapon in the battle against rising crime.
As a self-declared opponent of the death penalty, the ANC government is under pressure to champion the abolitionist cause in southern Africa and not only within its own borders, particularly where South African nationals are concerned.
The problem, however, is that President Festus Mogae of Botswana takes an opposing view, having described himself as a "retributionist" at a press conference after Bosch lost her appeal.
The Botswana Appeal Court's description of Bosch as a "wicked and despicable" woman has not made it easy for the South African government should it try to save her life. Nor does the presence on that court of a South African judge, who concurred with the finding that the murder was "planned over a long period."