South Africa will take a "hard stance" at this weekend's Sadc summit to ensure a resolution of Zimbabwe's stalled power-sharing talks, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday.

"We are getting a bit anxious about the failure of the parties to reach a political settlement," he told a media briefing following Wednesday's regular Cabinet meeting.

Southern African Development Community (Sadc) heads of state are to gather at the Sandton Convention Centre on Sunday to discuss Zimbabwe and the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Maseko said the government was extremely concerned at the slow progress in the power-sharing talks, and the Sadc heads of state now had to take urgent steps to make sure political solutions were found.

"We believe the failure of the parties to agree on the new cabinet is something that is becoming a major hindrance to the political stability that we so desire in the Sadc region," he said.

"So we will be taking a very firm position as government to make sure that the parties in Zimbabwe understand the urgency of finding a settlement.

"We believe that South Africa and the region cannot be held to ransom by three parties that are failing to reach agreement on the allocation of cabinet posts."

South Africa would be "taking quite a hard stance to make sure that agreement is reached".

He said the parties — Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change groupings — had already agreed on the major issues.

It was problematic that the only outstanding issue was the allocation of cabinet positions.

"The parties need to see the urgency with which this matter needs to be attended to," he said.

Government was optimistic that the Sadc summit would help find a final solution on the matter, Maseko said.

Sapa