South African President Thabo Mbeki has this Saturday paid a courtesy call on the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, President Robert Mugabe at State House.

Mr. Mbeki is the country to officiate at a dinner to launch a fundraising initiative for the University of Zimbabwe.

The South African statesman who was accompanied to the State House by Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara and Zanu PF national chairman, Ambassador Simon Khaya-Moyo, held a closed-door meeting with President Mugabe which lasted for over an hour.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Mr. Mbeki said he briefed the President on the situation in Sudan following the resumption of a civil war between Sudan and the oil-rich South.

He said President Mugabe also brief him about the on-going constitution-making process in Zimbabwe.

“I briefed President Mugabe on the situation in Sudan and I am happy to meet him again after such a long time,” said Mr. Mbeki.

The Former South African president could not be drawn to divulge more information about their discussion and his personal view on the political situation as he referred all question to Professor Mutambara.

The visit by Mr. Mbeki comes at a time when Global Political Agreement which he brokered in 2008 is now living on borrowed time as cracks within the inclusive government continue to widen due to ideological differences between the revolutionary Zanu PF party and the western-sponsored MDC-T.

Meawhile, ZBC News caught up with the former South African President at a local hotel soon after his arrival where he held a brief meeting with former Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa, Cde Simon Khaya-Moyo and Professor Arthur Mutambara, who is spearheading the fundraising initiative for University of Zimbabwe.

Mr. Mbeki described the initiative as a crucial programme that should give a ray of hope in reinvigorating learning institutions not only in Zimbabwe, but in the whole of Africa.

Professor Mutambara said the launch of the fundraising concept at the University of Zimbabwe is just the beginning of better things for other learning institutions that is expected to cascade to the whole education system.

The Zanu PF national chairman who worked with Mr. Mbeki in South Africa for ten years, Cde Khaya-Moyo, described the visit by Mr. Mbeki as a good gesture that Zimbabweans should fully embrace.

The country’s oldest university is seeking to raise at least 70 million dollars to recapitalise and the launch of the first fundraising initiative is expected raise about 20 million dollars.