Southern African leaders on Saturday urged Zimbabwe to delay the holding of general elections on July 31 as set by its veteran leader Robert Mugabe, citing the need for more time to prepare the electoral process.

After a special summit of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) held in Maputo, the group's secretary general Tomaz Salomao said the summit agreed on the need of the government of Zimbabwe to engage the constitutional court to request more time beyond the July 31 deadline for holding presidential, parliamentary, and council polls.

The summit also recommends South African President Jacob Zuma, the facilitator of the Zimbabwe political dialogue, to make more efforts to ensure the full implementation of an agreement among Zimbabwe's three major political parties in the wake of disputed 2008 polls.

The SADC-brokered Global Political Agreement (GPA) is the foundation of the four-year-old coalition government and paving stone to the upcoming elections.

"The summit urged the three parties to the GPA to undertake immediate measures to create conducive environment for holding peaceful, credible, free and fair elections," Salomao said.

Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe on Thursday announced that the elections are to be held on July 31, in compliance with a constitutional court ruling made earlier this month.

But the move was denounced by Mugabe's long-time rival prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, another key player in the coalition government, saying that more time is needed for crucial reforms in media and security sectors to ensure a fair vote.

Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who will be contesting against each other in the upcoming polls, attended the Maputo summit that also drew leaders and officials from the other 14 southern African states.

Either political camp has responded to the summit results yet.