A FORTY-MEMBER delegation of Ghanaian investors cancelled a planned tour of Zimbabwe last week to explore investment opportunities citing the deadlock in the allocation of key ministries between the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations and ZANU-PF.

The trip was part of a nationwide tour, which included the Ghanaians' participation at the Sanganai/Hlanganani Travel Fair held in Bulawayo last week.

President Robert Mugabe and his MDC rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, have been locked in complex negotiations over the allocation of key ministries following the signing of the historic power-sharing deal in September.

The Southern African Development Community organ on Politics, Defence and Security met the feuding political parties in Harare on Monday to try and resolve the deadlock but the troika failed to secure a political rapprochement.

Delays in the finalisation of the power-sharing pact have dealt a body blow on investor confidence in Zimbabwe.

A local business tycoon told The Financial Gazette last week that his company had delayed the launch of a private airline because of the political uncertainty.

Diplomatic sources told this newspaper last week that the Ghanaian delegation, which included representatives from both the private and public sectors, had decided to wait until the political impasse was resolved and the current uncertainties gone, before the mission could be arranged.

"We were supposed to host a delegation from our country," a Ghanaian diplomat said. "But because of the stalemate they advised us that they were no longer coming," the source said.

The Zimbabwe Investment Authority had organised the tour.

The inclusion of Tsvangirai in an all-inclusive government has created high hopes in the business community which feels it will lead to the stabilisation of the macroeconomic environment.

But many have said they would hold on to their investments until the power-sharing deal is concluded. Earlier on while briefing members of the Accra Chamber of Commerce and Industry at its monthly meeting in Ghana two weeks ago, Zimbabwe's ambassador to Ghana Pavelyn Musaka was reported as having said the Zimbabwean industry was in dire need for fresh capital injections to transform it into a competitive global player that it once was.

A report from Ghana said Musaka had hinted that opportunities existed in the agriculture, manufacturing, horticulture and tourism sectors.

The report said while admitting that investors were right to express fear and concern about the security of their investments, Musaka assured them that the government of Zimbabwe had put in place guarantees to secure investments of foreigners.

Ghana is one of the world's leading exporters of cocoa, timber and gold and could be scouting for new markets for its products in Zimbabwe.