APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) South African President Jacob Zuma is expected in Zimbabwe on Tuesday next week amid reports that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai plans to appeal to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to intervene in the country’s power-sharing dispute.

Although officials from Zimbabwe’s three main parties refused to comment on Zuma’s pending visit, sources said the South African leader was expected to press Zimbabwe’s squabbling political parties to end a power-sharing dispute holding back their coalition government.

Political tension has escalated considerably during the past week, putting pressure on SADC to step in to avert a collapse of the fragile Harare administration.

SADC is the main guarantor of the global political agreement (GPA) signed by Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe in 2008 and which led to the formation of Zimbabwe’s coalition government.

Relations between Mugabe and Tsvangirai worsened last week after the former unilaterally reassigned ministerial functions without consulting his coalition partners as stipulated in the GPA.

Tensions have also risen since the end of February, with dozens of supporters of Mugabe’s ZANU PF party marching in the capital Harare to demand an end to targeted sanctions.