(Adds MDC statement)

By Wendell Roelf

CAPE TOWN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - South Africa will take a tough line at a regional summit this weekend to end deadlock in Zimbabwe's cabinet talks, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

"This is becoming a matter of extreme concern to us and we will be taking quite a hard stance to make sure that agreement is reached," cabinet spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters.

South Africa's expression of impatience was a sharp change from the style of former President Thabo Mbeki, whose softly-softly approach as official southern African mediator has been criticised as ineffective.

President Robert Mugabe, opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller breakaway opposition faction, agreed to share power in Zimbabwe on Sept. 15, but talks have stalled over control of ministries.

The 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to hold an emergency summit in South Africa on Sunday to discuss the political stalemate in Zimbabwe.

Past meetings of regional heads of state have failed to produce a breakthrough and there were fresh signs that the parties may face another round of difficult negotiations.

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC said Mugabe's ZANU-PF party had put a "full stop" to negotiations on forming a government by carrying out what it said was widespread violence and suggested it should admit that it had no intention of sharing power.

"In short ZANU-PF has killed the dialogue despite the hopes, patience and expectations of the people of Zimbabwe. The bottom line is that ZANU-PF must be upfront with the Zimbabwean people and openly bury the corpse of these talks," an MDC statement said.

MELTDOWN

"We believe that South Africa and the region cannot be held to ransom by three parties that are failing to reach agreement on the allocation of cabinet posts," Maseko said.

A smaller SADC meeting held in Harare last month failed to end the deadlock.

Establishing a unity government is seen as critical to reversing an economic meltdown in the southern African nation where inflation is officially put at 231 million percent. Even under government price controls, the cost of bread is doubling every week.

Zimbabweans are struggling to survive amid widespread shortages of meat, milk and other basic commodities as a result of the collapse of the agricultural sector. The country is dependent on food handouts and malnutrition is on the rise.

Tsvangirai, who would become prime minister under the power-sharing deal, has accused ZANU-PF of trying to seize the lion's share of important ministries to try to relegate the MDC to the role of junior partner.

Tsvangirai won a March presidential election but not with enough votes to avoid a run-off. He then pulled out of the second vote, citing violence against his supporters.

He left Zimbabwe on Wednesday to visit countries in the region ahead of the summit on Sunday, travelling on a temporary travel document after the government failed to issue him with a passport, the MDC said.

Tsvangirai snubbed a planned SADC meeting in Swaziland last month after being denied a passport. (Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Michael Georgy and Janet Lawrence)

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