South African Jewish groups branded Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe a racist on Monday after he accused them of trying to wrest control of Zimbabwe's industries, Reuters reported. "Jews in South Africa, working in cahoots with their colleagues here, want our textile and clothing factories ... to close down," Mugabe said in comments reported in Zimbabwe on the state-controlled 'Herald' newspaper's Web site. Mugabe was reported to have said during a visit on Friday to a textile factory in the southern city of Bulawayo that South African Jews saw Zimbabwe simply as a "warehouse" that could create business for their companies.

Jewish groups called the remarks racist and anti-Semitic, saying that Jewish business operators in Zimbabwe were doing their best to survive in increasingly difficult circumstances. "It's just way out of line. Why single out such a small group?" said African Jewish Congress President Mervyn Smith. "This is a blatant example of racism and anti-Semitism, not to mention sheer malevolent conspiracy theorising," he told Reuters. Smith said there were around 100,000 Jews in South Africa and probably no more than 1,000 in Zimbabwe.

The national chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, Russell Gaddin, said Jewish businesses in Zimbabwe were battling to keep their operations afloat in the growing political and economic crisis. "I think Mugabe is a man who knows he's got his back against the wall and that by using whites, or Jews as synonyms of whites, he thinks he'll garner more support," Gaddin said. "But I'm not sure who in the world takes President Mugabe seriously any more," he added.