A new Zimbabwean government would be set up by end-February, its ruling party said at a meeting in South Africa at the weekend.

The Harare-based Herald Online reported on Monday that a senior Zanu-PF official, Nicholas Goche, met with SA facilitator Sydney Mufamadi in Musina on Saturday.

Goche, who is Zanu-PF's secretary for national security in the public service ministry, met with "Thabo Mbeki's South African facilitation team to discuss the latest developments and how best to proceed", reported The Herald Online.

He said Zimbabwe's longtime leader Robert Mugabe would press ahead with the formation of a new government with the full consent of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

SADC last year appointed former SA president Mbeki to facilitate the formation of a government of national unity in crisis-torn Zimbabwe.

"Sources close to developments said a government was most likely to be in place by the end of February," reported The Herald Online.

"Cde Goche met the South Africans on Saturday as part of the drive to ensure that this chapter is closed once and for all so that Zimbabweans can move forward," a source told the newspaper.

But Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has insisted he would only accept the position of prime minister in a new government once all disagreements with Zanu-PF had been settled.