PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki, who is leading a regional diplomatic effort to resolve Zimbabwe’s political turmoil, will visit the country to open a trade fair on Friday. Mbeki has avoided taking a strong public stand against the occupation of hundreds of Zimbabwe’s commercial, white-owned farms by self-styled veterans of the country’s independence war. Last week he said Britain, the country’s former colonial master, must pay to help secure a peaceful end to the land crisis which is threatening neigbouring economies in the region.