A defiant Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, reeling from a parliamentary setback, said he would form a new government without the Movement for Democratic Change, raising questions about his commitment to power-sharing talks with the MDC.

"We shall soon be setting up a government," the state-controlled daily Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying. "The MDC does not want to come in apparently." Mugabe said he would be appoint cabinet ministers who would be "managers" and described his last cabinet as "the worst in history."

His remarks came ahead of an expected visit by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating in the stalled negotiations between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on the formation of a government of national unity.

MDC spokesman George Sibotshiwe said the party had been informed that Mbeki would arrive Thursday in Harare in a bid to revive the stalled talks.

Mugabe spoke of his plans to form a government at a state function following his humiliation at the official opening of parliament Tuesday.

The self-styled president was heckled and booed by MDC MPs - who now form the majority in parliament - during his state of the nation speech.

Analysts said Mugabe would likely appoint ministers from his own Zanu-PF party after a failed attempt to form an alliance with a breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.

Zanu-PF threw its weight behind Mutambara's MDC during the election for speaker of parliament Monday. The plan backfired when some Zanu-PF and Mutambara deputies gave their votes to Tsvangirai's man, Lovemore Moyo, handing him the position.

While threatening to govern without the MDC, Mugabe as recently as Tuesday declared himself committed to continuing with talks on a unity government, as called for by the African Union.

The discussions have been stalled for two weeks after Tsvangirai baulked at a draft agreement, which proposed him as prime minister and Mugabe as executive president.

The MDC claims the proposal gives the authoritarian 84-year-old leader far more powers than Tsvangirai, who won the last credible vote for president in March. Mugabe won the second round of voting, but only after Tsvangirai withdrew in protest over political violence.

Zimbabweans are counting on a political settlement to end the country's economic crisis. Inflation is running at over 11 million per cent and around 2 out of 12 million people are estimated to need food aid.

But observers say a new police crackdown on the MDC points to a long road ahead.

Police detained four MDC MPs on Monday on Tuesday on what the party calls politically-motivated charges ranging from attempted murder to rape.

On Wednesday, the treason case of MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti was postponed in Harare Magistrates' Court until November 17 after the state asked for more time to gather evidence.

Biti, the MDC's chief negotiator, was arrested in June and charged in connection with a document outlining a political transition that prosecutors say he authored. He denies the charges.