S.Africa shifts on Zimbabwe and calls for result

HARARE (Reuters) -South Africa's government called for thefirst time on Thursday for the rapid release of results fromZimbabwe's presidential election, where a long delay hasincreased fears of violence.

"The situation is dire," said government spokesman ThembaMaseko in Cape Town. "When elections are held and results arenot released two weeks after, it is obviously of greatconcern," he told journalists.

It was a major shift by the government of President ThaboMbeki, who had previously said the electoral process must takeits course and there was no crisis following the March 29elections.

His stance was seen as backing Zimbabwean President RobertMugabe over the delay.

"The Zimbabweans need to be informed about those reasonsfor holding the results. But the most important thing is thatthe results need to be verified and released as soon aspossible," Maseko said in a briefing on a Thursday cabinetmeeting.

The government of regional power South Africa hadpreviously hesitated to join international expressions ofconcern about the delay in issuing the result of the vote, inwhich the opposition says Mugabe was defeated.

But ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, who toppled Mbeki fromthe head of the African National Congress last December hasmade several statements calling for release of the results.

Maseko used similar language to Zuma in expressing concernabout the results delay.

Maseko said that if there were reasons for not issuing theresults, "we think that those issues need to be dealt with asquickly as possible.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament for thefirst time in the elections but the result of the presidentialpoll has still not been released.

Mbeki is under criticism at home for his insistence onquiet diplomacy in dealing with the crisis in Zimbabwe, wherethe economy has collapsed, bringing hyper-inflation, shortagesof food and fuel and 80 percent unemployment.

Earlier Mugabe's government accused opposition MDC leaderMorgan Tsvangirai of treason and of working with formercolonial power Britain to topple the veteran leader.

(Writing by Barry Moody; Additional reporting by MichaelGeorgy and Caroline Drees in Johannesburg)