Pretoria – President Thabo Mbeki has assured members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) organ on Politics, Defence and Security that all substantial issues regarding Zimbabwe have been agreed upon.

Department of Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday that President Mbeki reported during the recently held African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that the mediation team had managed to get agreement from all sides on many issues, including land reform.

President Mbeki was mandated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government extra-ordinary summit in Tanzania, in March 2007 to facilitate talks between the two parties ahead of Zimbabwe's elections.

Mr Pahad said President Mbeki reported that the country was set to go ahead with the 29 March elections this year.

He added that there were outstanding procedural issues regarding the enactment of the constitution that still needed to be completed.

Last month, President Mbeki had a meeting with President Mugabe and held talks with the leaders of the two MDC factions, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, at the South African ambassador's residence.

President Mbeki told journalists after the meeting that he had given a report to Mr Mugabe and the opposition leaders on how far the negotiators had gone with the talks.

Yesterday, a new candidate, Simba Makoni, emerged in the Zimbabwean presidential election race to contest President Robert Mugabe’s position.

Mr Makoni, who will stand as an independent candidate against Mr Mugabe, headed the Southern African Development Community for almost 9 years as Executive Secretary.

He also served as the Zimbabwean deputy minister for Agriculture at their independence in 1980 and led the government owned Zimpapers group in 1994, before becoming finance minister in 2000.

Mr Makoni resigned from his post as finance minister over policy differences with President Mugabe in 2002.

The final date for nominations for all candidates for the elections is 8 February.

Last month, Chief Electoral Officer of South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Advocate Pansy Tlakula was invited to attend a two-day workshop ahead of Zimbabwe's March elections.

Adv Tlakula was asked to share her experiences on the management of elections in South Africa, lessons learnt and best practices. She was also asked to speak on elections, freedom of expression and access to information.

The workshop is part of the ongoing dialogue between the African Commission, the government of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean Civil Society organisations regarding various human rights issues in that country. - BuaNews