Zimbabwean authorities have accused a South African church delegation of spying for British intelligence agencies after a visit to the country on Monday.
The official newspaper, the Herald, accused the visit as being part of "the large campaign by Zimbabwe’s detractors pushing for a regime change agenda in the country."
The delegation, led by Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, called on the people of Zimbabwe to make a stronger stand against the government campaign to demolish illegal shantytowns, a venture which has left 300,000 people without homes.
The South African claimed victims of the campaign were being forced to live in inhumane conditions in a camp near Harare.
According to the Herald, visit by the group was organised by a Harare-based British spy with the intention of keeping the international eye on President Mugabe’s government.
The Herald quoted one government source as saying, "[Britain] would want justification for Zimbabwe to be discussed at every gathering as a rogue state, hence their continued bankrolling of clandestine operations disguised as fact-finding missions."
The demolitions are, according to Mugabe, a necessary means to clean the city of crime and illegal trading in foreign currency as well as black market trading of goods.
Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe gained independence in the 1980s. Relations between Britain and the country have become increasingly strained after the government began its seizure of white-owned farms.
The opposition has been dismissed by the President as a puppet of the British government, which he accused of attempting to destroy the Zimbabwean economy in retaliation for the eviction of white farmers.
The results of a two-week trip by a special envoy investigating the demolitions are due to be presented to Kofi Annan later in the month.
