Johannesburg: Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will be returning to his country on Saturday, he said on Thursday.

Speaking to Zimbabwean refugees from South Africa, Tsvangirai said: "I am going home tomorrow, I mean Saturday, it is the same thing."

Tsvangirai, who will challenge President Robert Mugabe in a run-off presidential vote on June 27, has been out of the country since April 8.

He was scheduled to return to Zimbabwe earlier this week, but was unable to do so due to an apparent assassination plot.

Tsvangirai was visiting Zimbabweans seeking protection at a Johannesburg police station after a wave of anti-foreigner attacks in South Africa.