South African President Thabo Mbeki will arrive in Zimbabwe on Friday for talks with the country's political leadership, the foreign affairs department said.

"Mbeki will meet with the country's political leadership in the context of his Southern African Development Community-mandated facilitation process," said spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.

Zimbabweans went to the polls on 29 March but the presidential electoral results were only released five weeks later by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

The ZEC is still to announce a date for run-off poll.

Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party is yet to announce whether its leader will take part in the second round. The MDC insists that it won an overall majority in the first round of voting.

The ZEC results released last Friday showed that Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent against 43.2 percent for President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

Sapa