Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawyer Alec Muchadehama leaves the High Court during a recess in the capital Harare April 6, 2008. REUTERS/Howard Burditt

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai met South African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma on Monday after appealing for help from outside powers to end the 28-year rule of President Robert Mugabe.

A spokeswoman for the ruling African National Congress said Tsvangirai had met Zuma in Johannesburg but gave no details.

Tsvangirai, who says he defeated Mugabe in the March 29 presidential election, wrote in a newspaper article earlier that Zimbabwe was on a "razor's edge" because of the veteran 84-year-old leader's attempts to cling to power.

Although Zuma has no formal position in the South African government, he is the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki and his role as ANC leader gives him influence in the development of the party's domestic and foreign policies.

Some analysts expected the new ANC leader to take a tougher stand on Zimbabwe after defeating President Thabo Mbeki for the leadership late last year. Zuma won with strong support of trade unions that have been sharply critical of Mugabe's government.

But in an interview with the Wall Street Journal carried out before the Zimbabwe election, Zuma said South Africa should continue Mbeki's controversial policy of quiet engagement with Mugabe to find a solution to his northern neighbor's crisis.

"We can't change that stance," the newspaper quoted Zuma as saying in an article published on Monday. But Zuma also told the Journal he thought political leaders should not stay in power for more than a decade.

COURT CHALLENGE

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change has been trying since Saturday to accelerate release of the results.

Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of planning violence to overturn results of both presidential and parliamentary votes.

The ruling ZANU-PF party wants a delay pending a recount, as part of its strategy to extend Mugabe's uninterrupted rule since independence from Britain.

The opposition and Western powers blame Mugabe for reducing his once prosperous country to misery by economic mismanagement.

Zimbabwe has the world's worst rate of hyper-inflation, making its currency virtually worthless and turning millions of people into economic refugees.

The opposition says Mugabe is trying to buy time to organize a fight-back after his first electoral defeat, when ZANU-PF lost a parallel parliamentary election.

Tsvangirai wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper on Monday: "Major powers here, such as South Africa, the U.S. and Britain, must act to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe's suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions to retire."

President Mbeki, who failed last year to mediate an end to the Zimbabwe crisis, said at the weekend the post-election situation there was "manageable".

ZANU-PF and independent monitors' projections show Tsvangirai has won the presidential election but will be forced into a runoff vote after failing to win an absolute majority.

Zimbabwe has inflation of more than 100,000 percent -- the highest in the world -- an unemployment rate above 80 percent and chronic shortages of food and fuel. The Zimbabwean dollar is a virtually worthless currency.

Millions of its people have fled into exile.

Tsvangirai wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper on Monday: "Major powers here, such as South Africa, the U.S. and Britain, must act to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe's suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions to retire."

Mbeki, who failed last year to mediate an end to the crisis, said last weekend the post-election situation was "manageable".

Although Tsvangirai is demanding Mugabe step aside, ZANU-PF and independent monitors' projections show the challenger failed to win an absolute majority despite outpolling Mugabe and will be forced into a run-off.

Electoral rules say a runoff must be held three weeks after the release of results, meaning the longer the delay the more time Mugabe and his supporters, which include a group of liberation war veterans, have to regroup.

The re-emergence of the former soldiers, often used as political shock troops by Mugabe, has increased concern he plans a violent response to his election setback.

The veterans led a wave of violent occupations of white farms as part of a government land redistribution program that began in 2000, and some Mugabe opponents say they have again begun occupying farms to intimidate those loyal to the MDC.

"It's basically happening the same way it happened in 2000 and thereafter, where groups of people come to your farm and tell you to leave your business and equipment," said Trevor Gifford, president of the Commercial Farmers' Union.

Meanwhile in Harare two Western journalists arrested last Thursday were granted bail on Monday, though a lawyer for New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak said he had been taken to hospital after suffering back injuries in a fall in jail.

Bearak, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and a British reporter were arrested at their hotel and charged with covering the election without accreditation.

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