Mbeki equates Mugabe to Nkurunzinza

Moeletsi Mbeki, a renowed South African political analyst yesterday said that President Robert Mugabe has been described as one of Africa's worst leaders and equated to Burundi's leader Pierre Nkurunziza who is presently facing fierce resistance to his plans to run for a third term.

He said the two have proved to be bad in leadership but good in clinging to power. The issue could spark a diplomatic row in Harare as the US Embassy in Harare tweeted the issue.

The embassy was live-tweeting Mbeki's speech from a Mandela Washington Fellows conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday when the brother of former president Thabo Mbeki reportedly said that he would give a "gold" award for worst leadership to Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza and Mugabe.

Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Jonathan Moyo reacted angrily to the tweet describing the move by the US Embassy as undiplomatic.

Moyo tweeted Wednesday: "How does an accredited diplomatic mission in Harare go down the gutter to fetch & peddle this rubbish? Undiplomatic!"

In an apparent climb down, the US embassy later re-tweeted Moyo's "undiplomatic" complaint, prefixing it with the single word: "Agreed."