Harare hit back days after Prime Minister John Howard banned Australia's tour of Zimbabwe, saying it would provide a propaganda boost for its "grubby dictator" Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikyaniso Ndlovu claimed Howard's government was trying to topple Mugabe by funding political violence in Zimbabwe through cash channelled to aid groups and vowed the alleged bid would be thwarted.

"The monies that come to them are to cause violence, terrorist activities," Ndlovu told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "I've got a list, a long list of their terrorist activities here.

"We will not tolerate violence by the puppets here who are funded by the Australian government," he said, also taking the opportunity to slam Howard as acting in "Gestapo"-like fashion by banning the cricket tour.

"He is the international Gestapo and a criminal ... he is worse than anybody else, his actions in banning the cricket is just one example of being the Gestapo," Ndlovu said of Howard in an angry outburst.