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This paved the way for the intervention by the SADC in Zimbabwe after the recent deadlock between President Robert Mugabe and main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over distribution of ministries to allow the formation of a new government.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), met on Tuesday but failed to resolve the issue.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the leaders had reached an impasse and were likely to refer the issue to SADC-appointed mediator, Mbeki.

The MDC leadership met in Harare yesterday and formally wrote to the SADC on the stalemate. The MDC wrote that Tsvangirai, the prime minister designate, and Mugabe had failed to resolve the issue of cabinet and that the mediator should intervene.

Informed sources said that the SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao had telephoned Motlanthe and indicated to him that regional leaders had asked Mbeki to continue as the mediator and that Motlanthe should communicate this to him. Salomao was deployed to get in touch with Motlanthe by the SADC troika on defence, politics and security chaired by Swazi King Mswati.

African Union chairman Jakaya Kikwete, who is also Tanzania president, and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza also sit on the troika.

"The SADC troika yesterday deployed Salomao to communicate with Motlanthe, who was requested to approach Mbeki to inform him that regional leaders wanted him to continue," a diplomatic source said.

"This is the SADC protocol. Motlanthe has to be involved because he is now South African president and SA has been helping in the financing of the talks and providing logistical support." Sources said Motlanthe agreed to communicate with Mbeki on the issue and back the process to form a power-sharing government in Zimbabwe.

Motlanthe is also expected to play a role by intervening in the Zimbabwe issue behind the scenes. The new president in June travelled to Harare to meet Mugabe at the height of a violent election campaign which claimed more than 100 lives and controversially brought Mugabe back to office.

Mugabe was defeated by Tsvangirai in March but recovered through a brutal campaign in the second round of the presidential election from which Tsvangirai withdrew, citing violence and killings.

There were worries within the SADC on whether Mbeki, who helped to bring about peace in Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Côte d'Ivoire, among others, would continue as mediator.

Mbeki's role in the process, now deadlocked over cabinet appointments, has been in doubt since he was ousted last month as SA president after he lost the ruling African National Congress leadership to Jacob Zuma last December.

Mbeki was removed over accusations of meddling in the graft case against Zuma.

Mugabe, who has always praised Mbeki for his role during talks between Zanu (PF) and the MDC, said last week his removal was "devastating".

The ANC has indicated support for Mbeki to remain on as mediator, although Motlanthe's spokesman, Thabang Chiloane, said Mbeki had not said whether he wanted to continue.