HARARE - South African President Jacob Zuma could soon make an unexpected breakthrough in Zimbabwe's protracted political deadlock.

This comes after the main Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) faction recently indicated to Zuma's facilitators that it was willing to make a raft of concessions on outstanding issues.

Negotiators of the three political parties involved in talks said MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai recently indicated to Zuma's team that he was prepared to concede on an array of issues provided President Robert Mugabe also compromised on three key issues - the disputes over Roy Bennett, Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana.

"There could be a breakthrough soon because Tsvangirai has indicated to Zuma's facilitators that he is willing to compromise on some issues if Mugabe also makes concessions," one of the negotiators said.

"This has opened a new avenue for us after we had reached a dead end. There is now hope that a solution to this impasse could soon be found," he said.

Insiders also said that Tsvangirai was willing to compromise on the installation of provincial governors, the chairing of cabinet, transport arrangements for principals, ministerial mandates, communication among principals and security of principals, among other disputed matters.

While negotiators agreed on a number of issues during their last round of talks, several issues remained unresolved.

MDC-T spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he was unaware of the latest developments on talks which could bring the negotiations to finality.

"When the negotiators finished talks in April, they handed over a report to the principals and that report was also handed over to President Zuma," Chamisa said.

"After that, the principals met and agreed to disagree. They then referred the matter to Zuma. Now the ball is in Zuma's court and that is where we are."

However, negotiators were adamant that the there was a "new critical development".

Negotiations to finalise the global political agreement upon which the inclusive government was founded in February last year have stalled mainly over the Bennett, Gono and Tomana issues. Tsvangirai, who is also the prime minister, is demanding that Bennett be sworn-in as deputy minister of agriculture. Mugabe had previously said he would swear in Bennett if he was acquitted.

However, when Bennett was acquitted recently, Mugabe backtracked and pressured the Attorney General to appeal. The MDC-T, which says the charges against Bennett of banditry, terrorism and trying to overthrow government were trumped up and politically-motivated, said the appeal was designed to keep Bennett out of government.

Zanu-PF has vowed to block Bennett from taking up his post because he was a former Rhodesian policeman.

The MDC-T insists that the appointments of Gono and Tomana should be nullified because they were unprocedural, but Zanu-PF is refusing to reverse them.

Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara met on June 8 to discuss the report from their negotiators so they could map the way forward.

The three negotiated deep into the night, focusing on issues which their teams had referred to them. But they failed to reach any agreement.

Each one of them stuck to the position of their negotiators and in the end they agreed to disagree and referred the matter to Zuma, who has been appointed facilitator by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Mugabe has said he would not change the position taken by his party's congress, politburo and central committee on the number of outstanding issues.

Zanu-PF's position on outstanding issues and those of MDC-T and MDC-M are articulated in the last talks report submitted to Zuma by his facilitators, Charles Nqakula, Mac Maharaj and Lindiwe Zulu.

Just when Zuma was expected to take the matter to SADC, Tsvangirai is said to have communicated his willingness to help break the stalemate.

Zuma was expected to have raised the latest issue on talks with principals when he visited Harare on Thursday, but he confined himself to his personal mission.

Zuma was in Harare on Thursday, with his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to pay his condolences to their daughter's in-laws.

Their daughter, Gugulethu, is married to Wesley Bongani, the son of MDC-M chief negotiator Professor Welshman Ncube, whose father, Gideon Mathonsi, died in Bulawayo last month.

Zuma told journalists in Harare that he was in the country to pay his condolences to the Ncube family and not discuss politics.

"We had come to visit our bereaved relatives. As you are aware, our daughter is married to the son of Professor Welshman Ncube and we came to be with him in his time of need," Zuma said.

Zuma also paid Mugabe a courtesy call at the State House.

By The Times (SA)