African Union Commission chief Jean Ping will meet South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday to discuss Zimbabwe's political crisis, a presidential spokesman said.

"President Mbeki invited Mr. Ping to brief him on developments in negotiations in the SADC-facilitated talks on Zimbabwe," Mukoni Ratshitanga said on Monday, referring to the 14-nation Southern African Development Community.

"The meeting will take place on Friday," he said.

He declined to disclose details of the meeting, which will be held in South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria.

Mbeki is the SADC-appointed mediator for Zimbabwe, where a disputed presidential run-off was held last month.

An African Union source had earlier said Ping was to travel to Pretoria on Monday to meet Mbeki following discussions between Zimbabwe's rival parties last week in South Africa.

The source later said the meeting had been delayed.

"This meeting is aimed at accelerating the implementation of a resolution (of an AU summit in Egypt) on power sharing in Zimbabwe," the source said.

A recent African Union summit ended with a call for dialogue between political parties in Zimbabwe and a national unity government.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2008)