FORMER South African president Thabo Mbeki's mediation in Zimbabwe has officially come to an end after current President Jacob Zuma appointed a new mediation team this week.

Mbeki, who stood down as president in September 2008 after his party ANC recalled him following accusations of his direct involvements in Zuma's corruption case, has over the past three years led a team of mediators who brokered the inclusive government between President Robert Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who became Prime Minister.

The new team comprises former cabinet ministers Charles Nqakula and Mac Maharaj and Zuma's international relations advisor Lindiwe Zulu.

Despite the success in forming the inclusive government, Tsvangirai had always criticised Mbeki's mediation, saying it was biased towards ZANU-PF.

Mbeki had also been criticized for adopting the "quiet diplomacy" approach in his mediation, which was deviation from approach taken by Harare's critics who have been calling for President Mugabe to outrightly step down.

The unity government formed in February this year has, however, been fraught with power struggles, which saw Tsvangirai boycott it for three weeks in October.

ZANU-PF and MDC are accusing each other of not honouring the obligations of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that established the inclusive government.

The SADC troika held a special summit on November 5 to try and break the impasse, giving the parties a 30-day ultimatum.

However, the talks only resumed on Monday and the parties are in a hurry to beat the December 5 deadline set by the troika.

SADC gave the parties 15 days and no further than 30 days to implement the GPA.

Despite remaining with less than two weeks of talks, negotiators for members of the tripartite government took a break on Thursday so that finance minister Tendai Biti, the lead negotiator for the Tsvangirai MDC formation, could wrap up his 2010 budget.

The new Charles Nqcakula-led facilitation team is now expected this weekend to clear hurdles that have threatened the full implementation of the GPA, according to an MDC statement.