Zimbabwe immigration authorities on Friday barred top South African labour leader Zwelinzima Vavi from entering the country, immediately putting him back on a South African Airways plane that had brought him to Harare International airport.
Vavi, who is general secretary of the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), is an outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe’s controversial rule and has often publicly criticised President Thabo Mbeki for refusing to take tougher action against the Zimbabwean leader.
He was visiting Zimbabwe to attend a conference of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), underway in Harare.
ZCTU spokesperson Mlamuleli Sibanda said the labour body’s lawyers were considering seeking an urgent court order setting aside the ban on Vavi, who he said was the only one stopped from entering the country out of several of the union’s guests who arrived today [Friday].
Sibanda said: “The immigration officials have put him back on a South African Airways plane which touched down at 12.30pm. Our lawyers are now handling the issue with a view of seeking an urgent application with the High Court to try and set aside Vavi’s ban.”
Zimbabwean authorities on Wednesday deported two Norwegian trade union officials, Nina Mjoberg and Alice Siame, while a Cosatu official, Jani Mhlangu, was barred from entering Zimbabwe.
The government appeared to have changed its mind on the ZCTU’s international guests and on Thursday allowed about 10 foreign unionists into the country.
The Harare authorities have in the past denied entry to foreign trade unionists whom they accuse of working hand in hand with the ZCTU to undermine the government’s authority.
The government accuses the ZCTU, a strong ally of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, of pushing a political agenda to oust Mugabe from power.
Two separate delegations from the Cosatu have also been kicked out of Zimbabwe over the past two years. – ZimOnline