The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has been trying since Saturday to accelerate release of the results, saying its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai won the election and should be declared president, ending the 28-year rule of Robert Mugabe.

MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama told reporters the court would rule on Tuesday on whether the case should be heard urgently. "I think ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) just wants to delay this whole thing," he said.

The court had adjourned the case on Sunday to decide on a ZEC argument that it did not have jurisdiction.

The ZEC is resisting the MDC's attempt to force release of the result and Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party wants an announcement of the outcome to be delayed pending a recount.

The opposition says Mugabe is trying to delay the result to give him more time to organise a fight-back after his first electoral defeat, when ZANU-PF lost a parallel parliamentary election.

As the court case continued, Tsvangirai went to South Africa after saying Zimbabwe was on a razor's edge and appealing for intervention by Pretoria, the United States and Britain.

"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," Tsvangirai wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

But South African President Thabo Mbeki, who failed last year to mediate an end to the Zimbabwe crisis, said at the weekend the post-election situation there was "manageable" and it was not the time for international intervention.

No results have emerged from the presidential vote nine days ago.

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.

STRATEGY

ZANU-PF's strategy to stay in power includes legal challenges to some of the parliamentary results and the mobilisation of pro-government militias before any runoff.

The re-emergence of liberation war veterans, often used as political shock troops by Mugabe, has increased concern that he plans a violent response to his election setback.

On Saturday, Tsvangirai accused the 84-year-old former guerrilla leader of "preparing a war on the people".

The veterans led a wave of violent occupations of white farms as part of a government land redistribution programme.

Critics say the land reforms, in which inexperienced farmers and Mugabe cronies took over many farms, is at the centre of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. It now suffers the world's worst hyper-inflation at over 100,000 percent.

Responding to reports of fresh farm invasions by the war veterans, Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) chief executive Hendrick Olivier said police had dispersed groups of people "claiming to be war veterans ordering farmers to vacate their farms" in Masvingo province.

"We have also received similar reports from two farms in Centenary. Reports have also been made to the police and we hope they will act as swiftly as they did in Masvingo," he said.

Agricultural officials say a majority of Zimbabwe's 4,500 or so white commercial farmers have been forced off their properties since 2000 when Mugabe launched his land reforms.

The state-run Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying Zimbabweans should protect their land from former colonisers. It said he made the plea at the funeral of a relative.

Electoral rules say a runoff must be held three weeks after the release of results, meaning the longer the delay the more time Mugabe has to regroup.

Mugabe's government is widely accused in the West of stealing previous presidential and parliamentary elections, and his removal is regarded by Washington and London as necessary to rebuilding Zimbabwe's shattered economy.