JOHANNESBURG, Jan 17 (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki travels to Zimbabwe on Thursday to meet officials of the ruling ZANU-PF and main opposition parties after reports that a deal to end a political crisis was imminent.

Mbeki has been mediating talks between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's government and the Movement for Democratic Change for nearly a year at the urging of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional grouping of 14 nations.

"President Mbeki will visit Zimbabwe within the context of the mandate bestowed upon him by SADC in March 2007 to assist the government and people of Zimbabwe to find a political solution to their political challenges," South Africa's department of foreign affairs said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern suggested this week there had been a breakthrough in the negotiations and an agreement that would pave the way for free elections in March in Zimbabwe was only days away.

Ahern made his comments to reporters after a briefing by Mbeki in the South African capital Pretoria. (Reporting by Paul Simao; Editing by Robert Woodward)

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