"Everyone must be a messenger. We must be like China. In China nearly everyone is a messenger - every Chinese is a messenger for their country, they never badmouth their own country. Never badmouth your country," he said at a community meeting in Durban.

China is a one-party state where people who criticise the government are subject to arbitrary arrest and detention, rights groups say.

South Africa, which has strong business and diplomatic links which China, is a multiparty democracy that has been governed by the African National Congress since apartheid ended in 1994.