Harare, 27 Aug-(ANA)-South African President Jacob Zuma is to make his first visit to neighbouring Zimbabwe since being elected in May.
Activists hope Mr Zuma will push for key reforms and an end to alleged human rights abuses against political opponents of President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Zuma's two-day visit comes amid renewed speculation about the health of Mr Mugabe, who is 85.
Zimbabwe officials have denied reports that Mr Mugabe is ill, labelling them the product of "sick and evil minds".
Mr Zuma is the current chair of the Southern African Development Community, the body which helped to broker a power-sharing deal which saw Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) join President Mugabe in government in February.
The MDC has accused Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party over a range of issues connected to the deal, including most recently the unilateral appointment of the central bank governor and attorney general.
But it also says MDC activists have suffered continued attacks and harassment since the MDC joined the government.
South Africa's Times newspaper on Wednesday claimed Mr Mugabe had been "secretly" whisked away to a hospital in the United Arab Emirates for specialist treatment.
But Zimbabwean officials strongly dismissed the claims and said Mr Mugabe was in good health and had been away on holiday.
Reuters news agency reported that apart from meeting a special Venezuelan envoy on Wednesday, Mr Mugabe visited the family of a senior Zanu-PF official who died last week and "delivered a 20-minute speech while on his feet, showing no visible sign of ill-health". (ANA)
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