Harare — SOUTH African President, Jacob Zuma, has kept the pressure on the country's leadership with his special envoy, Mac Maharaj, returning to Harare to hold further consultations with President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara, in a desperate bid to cool the rising political temperatures threatening the inclusive government's continued survival.

The chief negotiators of the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change, Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti, confirmed yesterday that Maharaj had held deliberations with their principals, including President Mugabe.

"After meeting Maharaj, the principals met this morning (yesterday) alone and would probably give him a report of their meeting as principals. He (Maharaj) might decide what's (going to be) the next course of action," said Ncube.

Maharaj, who is part of Zuma's facilitation team tasked to break the political impasse in Zimbabwe, was in Harare last week but returned to the capital on Tuesday, in what analysts view as a clear sign that the Southern African Development Community (SADC)-appointed mediator is in a hurry to find a solution to the deadlock over the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) before the regional grouping's 38th summit.

Zuma is expected in Harare before the SADC Summit scheduled for August 15-16 in Windhoek, where Namibian President, Hifikepunye Pohamba, will assume its chairmanship, taking over from the leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila.

Yesterday Maharaj, who was reluctant to comment on his latest trip, held several other meetings with local players deemed crucial to the resolution of the impasse in the coalition government.

But Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma's special advisor on international relations told The Financial Gazette yesterday that her boss was working "around the clock to find a solution. Maharaj is down there. We are going to hear from him when we return."

The GPA partners are deadlocked over the swearing in of Roy Bennett as the MDC-T deputy minister of agriculture, the appointments of senior government officials, including Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, and the appointments of provincial governors.

Solutions to the impasse have been elusive as new issues continuously cropped up such as the alleged unilateral appointments of members of the judiciary and the jingles that have caused friction in the inclusive government ever since ZANU-PF started flighting them on radio and television.