President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated the Zimbabwean government for holding “harmonised elections”, however, he is calling on all parties to work together to sustain peace and shared prosperity in the country.

Last week Zimbabweans kicked off its presidential election, which was marred by delays that sparked opposition accusations of vote rigging and voter suppression.

Zanu-PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa won a second and final term in office in an outcome rejected by the opposition and questioned by observers.

Mnangagwa garnered roughly 53% of the vote, his main challenger, Nelson Chamisa, leader of the opposition, the Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) secured 44%.

The CCC refused to ratify the results, asserting that they were "false”.

Political analysis predicted a re-election for Mnangagwa, who took over from Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup.

Mnangagwa also narrowly defeated Chamisa in the last presidential election in 2018. The opposition alleged that the election was rigged but the constitutional court upheld the result at the time.

Ramaphosa noted that South Africa is conscious that these elections took place under a difficult economic environment owing to the burdening sanctions which he said Zimbabweans continue to unjustly endure.

Meanwhile, the elections came under heavy scrutiny by international observers, with the European Union's observer mission saying the voting took place in a climate of fear.

The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) mission said there were a number of issues during voting, including the banning of rallies, biased media coverage and voting delays.

Ramaphosa said South Africa had taken note of the preliminary pronouncements by the invited International Observers Missions including the African Union and the SADC observer missions.