Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader, has met South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Party spokesman Nqobizitha Mlilo said the meeting took place on Thursday, in preparation for Saturday's Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit in Zambia on the outcome of Zimbabwe's controversial presidential elections.

Mr Mlilo said the meeting between Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Mbeki "went well". "We're cautiously optimistic about the outcome," AP news agency reports him as saying.

Nearly two weeks have passed since the beginning of the elections and still no official results have been announced.

The delay in announcing the results is thought to be designed to buy time for President Robert Mugabe to organise intimidation.

Independent and ruling party projections say Mr Tsvangirai’s MDC gained most votes but not the 50 per cent needed to win outright.

The MDC says he gained 50.3 per cent of the vote, but Zanu-PF has demanded a recount of the vote.

This week five election officials were arrested by Zimbabwe police in what looks like an attempt by Mr Mugabe to influence the poll.

The five officials stand accused of undercounting votes for Mr Mugabe and prejudicing his candidacy in the country's presidential election.

The police allege they gave Mugabe 4,993 votes fewer than he earned.

Meanwhile, fears of mass violence are mounting amid claims from the MDC spokesman, Tendai Biti, that ruling party militants used in the past to intimidate government opponents are being rearmed.

Biti urged the African Union to intervene to prevent bloodshed.

"I say to my brothers and sisters across the continent - don't wait for dead bodies in the streets of Harare," Biti said. "Intervene now."

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who chairs the 14-nation Sadc, said the entire region needed to work together to find a solution at Saturday's regional summit.

The MDC says it is still hoping that legal action in the High Court will lead to the immediate release of the presidential results.

The judge in charge of reviewing the petition has said he will try to come to a decision on Monday.

"Conscious of the urgency of the matter, I am of the view that if I exert myself to study the submissions, I should be ready with a judgement on Monday," said judge Tendai Uchena.

Criticism of Mr Mugabe's government has grown rapidly in recent years following the country's alarming economic decline.

Zimbabwe's unemployment rate has reached a staggering 80 per cent, while inflation is the highest on the planet at more than 100,000 per cent.

The country's population also suffers from a lack of basic resources such as food, water, medicine and electricity.

Mr Mugabe is bidding for an astonishing sixth term in office, potentially seeing him in power until he is just short of his 90th birthday.

The article Tsvangirai meets SA President ahead of summit originally appeared on 999 Today