Commerce Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe says the proposed boycott of Zambian products by South African nationals could only harm that country.
The National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa has called for the boycott of Zambians products in protest of the continued detention of UPND president Hakainde Hichilema on treason allegations.
The union general secretary Irvin Jim said that Zambia was degenerating into a dictatorship and demanded that South Africa considers boycotting Zambian products to arm twist government into releasing Hichilema.
But Mwanakatwe said that Zambia would not force South Africans to buy its products.
Mwanakatwe said that Zambia would conduct business only with willing partners.
She said that government did not interfere in the judiciary adding that the treason charge of Hichilema was a legal matter.