S.Africa denies haven to Mugabe opponent

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 26 (UPI) -- South Africa has come under criticism after it denied asylum to an opposition official from Zimbabwe, which is embroiled in an economic crisis.

The South African government declined to give asylum to Roy Bennett, who has claimed prolonged persecution at the hands of Zimbabwe's ruling party led by President Robert Mugabe. Bennett fled the country in March after he was falsely implicated in a plot to kill Mugabe, reports South Africa Business Day.

Bennett's South African lawyer Danie Fourie, reacting to the asylum denial, questioned the country's ability to be an honest broker in Zimbabwe's political impasse.

Bennett told SW Radio Africa in London that denial exposed the duplicity of the South African government, the report said.

A South African Home Affairs Ministry spokesman said his department was satisfied that Bennett's application had been properly evaluated, and that there was no vendetta against him personally.