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Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has issued a decree overruling a Supreme Court decision on the dates for Harare's long-delayed mayoral election, the official Ziana news agency said on Wednesday.

Mugabe's decree said that regardless of "any other law or court order to the contrary, the Harare City Council elections shall be held on March 9 and 10," the agency said.

The Supreme Court, the country's top court, had on December 7 ordered that municipal and mayoral elections be held by February 7, after a delay of two years.

Despite the ruling, electoral authorities decided to hold the capital's elections on March 9-10, on the same dates as the presidential election.

Then a Harare High Court on Monday told the government to organise the capital's long-delayed municipal elections within two weeks, in compliance with the Supreme Court order.

Mugabe's decree aims to end the legal tug-of-war over the dates.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is widely tipped to win the Harare elections.

The city's affairs have been run by a state-appointed commission since the former mayor, then a senior member of the ruling Zanu PF party, and his council were suspended for corruption and gross mismanagement. - News24 (SA)