"I see South Africa pursuing a policy of pursuing stability rather than democracy and in that case, they are very suspicious about any change of government," Tsvangirai told BBC television in London.

Later on Sunday, Tsvangirai met 500 supporters at a public meeting in London where he pledged to keep up the fight against President Robert Mugabe's regime.

Tendai Biti, the MDC's secretary general claimed at the same meeting that they had opened talks with a break-away faction of the party led by Arthur Mutambara.

He would not say what the talks sought to achieve.

Tsvangirai told the BBC that South African President Thabo Mbeki's government had relied on the United Nations after accepting that "quiet diplomacy" has failed to produce results.

However, he said, the UN approach may now be "dead in the water" after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe poured cold water last Thursday on an initiative from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

A senior UN official, Ibrahim Gambari, said in New York Wednesday that it was premature to talk about a UN plan that would involve Mugabe's departure as Mbeki backed a planned visit to Zimbabwe by Annan.

Tsvangirai said that the people of Zimbabwe would pursue mass civil disobedience after their disappointment with recent elections that he said were tarnished by fraud.

"The people are determined to confront the regime," he said. "They are prepared to take a step further than just go for elections because of the electoral fraud that we've experienced," he added.

"That involves the mobilization of the people... mass crowds... putting people on the streets and making sure they express their discontent," the opposition leader said.

"At the moment one can see a very bleak future," he said when asked to comment about the country's sinking economy.

"The country is looking at the precipice, I think it will be a very disastrous thing if there is no change immediately," Tsvangirai said.

However, in the long run, he said freedom would come.