TAKING ACTION....Merfyn Temple, A methodist priest, daubed in fake blood, joins a protest outside South Africa House in Trafalgar Square on Saturday over South Africa's lack of action to tackle human right abuses in neighbouring Zimbabwe ©Reuters

The South African government's silence on the persecution of the owners and staff of the Zimbabwean newspaper the Daily News by the authorities in that country, is scandalous, DA'sGraham McIntosh said on Monday. "The persecution of the Daily News by President Mugabe's government, as well as its intolerance of points of view in the media which are not managed by Zanu-PF commissars, is an international scandal. "Equally scandalous is the South African government's silence on the matter," he said in a statement. This comes following a demonstration held in London at the weekend over South Africa's lack of action to tackle human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Like the apartheid regime in South Africa, Mugabe's government had replaced the rule of law with rule-by-law, silencing dissent with draconian legislation and the use of the police force against the opposition, independent media, and civil society commentators. The owners of the Daily News, the editor, and his staff had been abused, threatened, and made victims of sabotage and legislative terrorism. "The latest act of intimidation, which must have shocked the world, is the use by the police of hostages to secure the arrest of the directors of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) -- the owners of the Daily News," McIntosh said.