Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon and Zimbabwe's Justice Minister continued their war of words of Sunday, with Patrick Chinamasa accusing Leon of "lighting fires" of violence in his country.
Speaking on SABC's Newsmaker programme, Chinamasa said Leon was playing a "very destructive" role in Zimbabwe by urging that government's opposition to take violent action to oust the ruling Zanu-PF party.
"Clearly his role (in Zimbabwe) has not been a constructive one."
Leon had tried to incite white commercial farmers to resist land reform and had funded and encouraged the Movement for Democratic Change to violently remove the government.
"I think that that kind of role is not a suitable one for the leader of the opposition from a neighbouring country," he said.
"I am really disappointed that he should come to our country to fan and light fires."
He should rather visit Zimbabwe to build "bridges of understanding".
Leon visited South Africa's northern neighbour early last week prior to a debate in the National Assembly on the situation in Zimbabwe.
In response, Chinamasa, during a press briefing with African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni, accused Leon of interfering in that country's domestic affairs and for encouraging violence.
The DA rtejected the attack on its leader, labelling the comments "outrageous and laughable".
During Sunday's interview, Chinamasa also repeated denials that the government had intimidated members of the judiciary in Zimbabwe.
"If you ask them (the judiciary) if any government minister had ever dictated to them you would receive a resounding no."
He denied that the Zanu-PF government had forced Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay to resign, saying the judge had voluntarily chosen to retire.
The government had introduced the rule of law in Zimbabwe and viewed the independence of the judiciary as very important.
Chinamasa accused the South African and international media of"ganging up" against Zimbabwe and of portraying the situation in a bad and incorrect light.
In his response, Leon called Chinamasa a liar, and said he had been the Zimbabwean government's "point man" in its assault on the rule of law.
"(The government) was bringing inordinate pressure to bear to make sure that Zanu gets to appoint judges that would not stand in the way of their absolute power lust," he said.
Leon said he was not surprised by the comments, but was more concerned about South African Justice Minister Penuell Maduna condoning what Chinamasa had done in Zimbabwe.
Maduna should not merely accept the assurances of the Zimbabwean "rogue regime".
He had never given any money to political parties in that country, and had visited Zimbabwe as a concerned citizen of South Africa and of the Southern African Development Commuinity.
Leon said the South African government should change its stance on Zimbabwe and abandon its "silent diplomacy" approach, which had been abused by the Zimbabwean government.
Silent diplomacy could be seen as silent approval.
"After one year and at least four meetings between (Zimbabwean President) Robert Mugabe and (South African President) Thabo Mbeki and absolutely no concrete positive results to show for it... simply a further slide towards anarchy, a further slide towards destabilisation.
"If you're the government, you have got to turn around and say surely this policy has to be reviewed," he said. - Sapa