A public sector strike in South Africa has put President Jacob Zuma on the spot to find a lasting solution to the Zimbabwe crisis, due to the resentment against immigrants, many of them from Zimbabwe, for taking jobs.

Radio talk shows and newspaper columns have been awash with speculation that one of the problems that triggered the strike in South Africa lay squarely with that country's failure to deal with the crisis in Zimbabwe.

South Africa is host to an estimated three million Zimbabweans, many of them living there illegally or as refugees, after fleeing the political and economic meltdown at home. Political analyst Luke Zunga said there is hardly a day that passes without negative comments about Zimbabweans in South Africa.

'Whether it's true or not, some South Africans complain that Zimbabweans are stealing their jobs and overloading government's service delivery to its citizens. But the truth of the matter is, Zuma has been put so much under pressure to ensure things return to normal in Zimbabwe,' Zunga said.

It has been up to Zuma, the SADC facilitator on Zimbabwe, to keep the pressure on the three principals to the Global Political Agreement to meet the 30-day timeline set by a Troika summit held in Windhoek, Namibia last month.

Lindiwe Zulu, the international relations advisor to Zuma, said the facilitator has been in regular contact with the three leaders in the inclusive government since the summit. But indications are that, 19-days after the ultimatum, there is no visible movement to suggest the principals are implementing any of the 24 agreed to issues in the GPA, that are supposed to be dealt with.

Media reports quote Zulu saying the South African facilitation team will be travelling to Zimbabwe soon, and that they were working within the 30-day period that President Zuma pledged.

'Resolving the impasse between ZANU PF and the two MDC parties remain President Zuma's top priority. The president and the people of South Africa will not rest until a solution has been found. The consultations are expected to culminate in a roadmap to elections,' Zulu said.

During the SADC Troika, Zuma recommended that the regional bloc should help Zimbabwe come up with guidelines for violence-free elections, which are expected anytime after the drafting of a new constitution.

Many civil society organizations and the two MDC formations, are calling for a roadmap that will involve SADC and the African Union in the supervision of elections, to ensure full compliance with their principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.

Recently the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition co-ordinator in South Africa, Dewa Mavhinga, told us that SADC and the AU must guarantee the democratic transfer of power to the eventual winner of the proposed elections.

'Any roadmap to an election in Zimbabwe should ensure that there is security sector-reform to prevent the security forces from blocking the transfer of power as has happened in the past,' Mavhinga said.

So far there has been no word from SADC about any 'roadmap' for elections and analysts remain concerned about SADC's apparent support for Robert Mugabe.