Zuma widens gap with Mbeki over Zimbabwe

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE (Reuters) - South African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma widened his disagreement with President Thabo Mbeki over Zimbabwe on Wednesday, saying anxiety was increasing by the day over a post-election deadlock there.

Zuma made his toughest comments yet on the delay in issuing election results in Zimbabwe as members of the U.N. Security Council and the African Union met in New York where they were expected to debate Zimbabwe, Sudan and Somalia.

Mbeki, increasingly isolated in his softly approach to Zimbabwe and his insistence there is no crisis there, is chairing the meeting at U.N. headquarters as rotating Security Council president. He wants to block discussion of Zimbabwe.

Zuma said in a speech near Johannesburg: "The region cannot afford a deepening crisis in Zimbabwe. The situation is more worrying now given the reported violence that has erupted."

Zuma ousted Mbeki as leader of the African National Congress last December and has moved gradually to increase his influence at the expense of his rival.

"We once again register our apprehension about the situation in Zimbabwe. The delay in the verification process and the release of results increases anxiety each day," Zuma told South Africa's Chambers of Commerce.

In another confirmation of Zimbabwe's collapse, the central statistics office said on Wednesday inflation, already the world's highest, had jumped to almost 165,000 percent in February. Unofficial estimates put it much higher.

A judge in Harare on Wednesday adjourned until Thursday hearing an MDC application to block a recount of all votes cast in 23 out of 210 constituencies in the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections.