The Democratic Alliance on Thursday invoked the Promotion of Access to Information Act to force President Jacob Zuma to release a report by retired army generals on Zimbabwe drafted during the Mbeki era.

"This report would go a long way in shedding the much-needed light on the many human rights violations that characterised Zimbabwe's elections last year," DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said.

"News reports continue to emerge to this day from Zimbabwe of political intimidation and human rights abuses and the contents of this report would help us understand the dynamics that lie at the heart of it," he said.

Six retired generals were tasked by then president Thabo Mbeki in May last year to assess the extent of the army's involvement in the political crisis in Zimbabwe.

But Mbeki, also the Southern African Development Community's mediator in the crisis, never released their findings. Neither did his successor, Kgalema Motlanthe.

Trollip said this contributed to a widespread perception that Pretoria was covering up wrongdoing on the part of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.

"The previous administration's secrecy in dealing with the political situation in Harare has created the perception that South Africa is protecting the human rights violations of Robert Mugabe's regime.

"If the Zuma administration does not release the report, it will reaffirm this perception."

Disputes between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change are putting intense strain on Zimbabwe's three-month-old unity government.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said it is time for Mugabe to go, adding that Washington wanted South Africa to bring more pressure to bear on the man who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980.

But Zuma's new International Relations Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, has rejected any notion that Pretoria would put try to persuade Mugabe to step down.