South Africa's president has launched an outspoken attack on US efforts to exert pressure on Zimbabwe and asserted that his country can assist its neighbour to hold free elections next month.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Thabo Mbeki said Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, had discredited Washington's proclaimed policy to promote freedom by placing Zimbabwe on a list of six “outposts of tyranny” last month, alongside Myanmar, Cuba, Belarus, North Korea and Iran.