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 Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said Mandela was only bowing to Western pressure when he referred to a "tragic failure of leadership" in Zimbabwe.
Mandela made his comments Wednesday in London before an audience at a fundraiser that included Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former President Bill Clinton.
But Ndlovu nonetheless called Mandela a statesman, and said he condemned the West for pressuring African leaders, not Mandela.
Although out of office for nearly a decade, Mandela remains a commanding and respected figure. He uses his influence sparingly, and it is particularly rare for him to publicly differ with South Africa's current president, Thabo Mbeki. South Africans and other Africans have been increasingly questioning Mbeki's unwillingness to publicly criticize Mugabe, so Mandela's brief but sharp comments will have particular resonance.
Also Thursday, Zimbabwe's opposition leader said negotiations won't be possible if Mugabe goes ahead with a runoff election the world has denounced as a sham.
"Negotiations will be over if Mr. Mugabe declares himself the winner and considers himself the president. How can we negotiate?" Morgan Tsvangirai said in an interview with the British newspaper The Times. The Times said he spoke by telephone from the Dutch Embassy in Harare, where he fled over the weekend, saying he had received a tip soldiers were headed to his home.
Wednesday, Tsvangirai emerged briefly from the embassy to hold a news conference during which he urged African leaders to guide negotiations aimed at forming a coalition transitional authority in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean officials scoffed at Tsvangirai's call for talks and said they were focused on Friday's presidential runoff. Tsvangirai, who had been the only candidate facing Mugabe in the runoff, announced Sunday he was withdrawing because state-sponsored violence against his Movement for Democratic Change had made it impossible to run. Electoral officials say the election will go ahead with Tsvangirai's name on the ballot.
Tsvangirai late Wednesday issued a statement saying he did not write a commentary that appeared under his name calling for United Nations peacekeepers in his country. The essay appeared in Wednesday's edition of the British newspaper The Guardian. Tsvangirai said The Guardian was assured by "credible sources" that he had approved the article, but that he had not.
A Tsvangirai aide, George Sibotshiwe, said Thursday his party was trying to determine how the commentary was given to The Guardian under Tsvangirai's name.
Tsvangirai had been asked about the essay several times earlier Wednesday and did not disavow it then, though he did stress that a call for peacekeepers was not a call for military intervention, a sensitive issue.
The Herald, a Zimbabwean government mouthpiece, on Thursday accused Tsvangirai of calling "for military intervention in Zimbabwe disguised as peacekeepers."
Sibotshiwe, the spokesman, said Tsvangirai did not equate peacekeepers with military intervention.
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 "We still need peacekeepers," Sibotshiwe said.
Mugabe campaigned Wednesday and was expected to continue campaigning Thursday. The Herald reported Thursday he had urged crowds north of Harare to "vote for the ruling party to show the world their resolve to defend the country's sovereignty and independence."
Mugabe has become increasing defiant in the face of international condemnation he dismisses as Western attempts to meddle in Africa. But Africans themselves are increasingly speaking out against Mugabe.
Tsvangirai spokesman Sibotshiwe said Mandela's comments were an example of his leadership.
"President Mandela has always provided leadership on the continent, and this is one example," Sibotshiwe said. "We believe President Mandela has watched this thing deteriorate for a very long time."
Mugabe sees Mandela as a fellow freedom fighter, and will find it hard to dismiss or ridicule him
-- Mugabe's typical response to criticism. Sibotshiwe said Mugabe, 84 years old to Mandela's 89, would have to respect the South African as an African elder.
But "Robert Mugabe has stopped listening to the whole world," Sibotshiwe said. "Robert Mugabe does not care about African solidarity. He only cares about African solidarity when it is convenient."
Wednesday, the leaders of Swaziland and Tanzania, meeting as a committee of the main regional bloc, the South African Development Community, urged Zimbabwe to postpone the runoff, saying violence and restrictions on the opposition had not created the conditions for a free and fair vote Friday.
The Herald, the Zimbabwean government mouthpiece, quoted officials here Thursday as saying the call for postponement was illegitimate.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's opposition said its No. 2 leader was granted bail Thursday.
Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change, had been jailed since flying back to Zimbabwe from South Africa June 12. He was charged with treason, which carries the death penalty, as well as with publishing false statements, insulting the president and another charge related to interfering with the military.
Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa released a brief statement saying a judge had granted Biti bail.
[Associated
Press; By ANGUS SHAW]
Copyright 2008 The Associated
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