While speaking at a joint press briefing with President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings on Saturday, Obama criticised Zimbabwe for bad governance and said the country was unlikely to have fair elections later in July due to fear and insecurity among voters and bias by the police and military.
"Harassment of citizens and groups needs to stop and reform needs to move forward, so people can cast their votes in elections that are fair and free and credible," Obama said at a joint press briefing with President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings on Saturday.
In response, Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper said Obama did not acknowledge American law-breaking in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
The newspaper said Obama was mired in "international barbarism, drone assassinations and spying".
Obama has come under increasing scrutiny after a systems administrator at a US National Security Agency (NSA) facility in Hawaii, Edward Snowden, was charged with espionage by the US after leaking details about secret US surveillance programmes to the news media.
He has also been heavily criticised for the use of unmanned drones in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan that have resulted in the lost of many lives.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's state radio also reported on Monday that Christopher Mutsvangwa, a former ambassador to China appointed by President Robert Mugabe, said Obama voiced "a sinister plan" to influence Zimbabwe's elections to oust longtime ruler Mugabe (89).
Mugabe
Veteran president Robert Mugabe has set elections for July 31, drawing fierce criticism from his political foes.
Critics accuse Mugabe of attempting to push through a vote before reforms that would clean up the electoral roll, free the media and limit the military's political role. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai – who will face Mugabe in the polls – has threatened to boycott any unilaterally declared election date.
Tsvangirai won the most ballots in the first round of the 2008 elections, but pulled out of the second round amid violence against his supporters. – Sapa-AP