PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has reportedly ridiculed former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s call for an early return to polls, labelling the demand a "joke".
According a local daily, Tsvangirai wrote a "damning" letter to the SADC Troika of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security detailing the country's economic hardships and also stating that Mugabe was an "illegitimate leader".
Zimbabwe held its harmonised elections on 31 July 2013, the outcome of which saw an overwhelming victory for Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, however dismissed the election as a "farce".
Tsvangirai demanded fresh elections, claiming that last year's polls were rigged by Mugabe.
The summit saw Mugabe, 90, assuming the role of SADC chair after he was elected vice chair in August last year. He took over from Malawi's president Peter Mutharika.