'Intrusive' persons not welcome

2004-10-27 11:42

Harare - A delegation of South African labour leaders was expelled from Zimbabwe on Wednesday after the government described members as "intrusive individuals" who were not welcome in the country.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, hosting the visit, said the 13 delegates of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), South Africa's most powerful labour body, were forced to leave by road after flying to Harare on Monday.

Collen Gwiyo, an official of the Zimbabwe labor group, said the delegation crossed into South Africa by bus at around dawn after travelling on hazardous roads through the night. The journey from Harare to Cosatu's headquarters in Johannesburg takes at least 12 hours.

Zimbabwe police and immigration officers on Tuesday ordered the group to leave on the first day of a scheduled four-day visit in which they had planned to meet with local labour, civic and reform groups and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, as well as government officials.

The group was escorted to the main Harare airport but no flights to South Africa were available.

"We feel the government must agree that there is a problem of human rights in a country were a trade union federation cannot send a peaceful, lawful delegation without being deported," union spokesperson Patrick Craven was quoted as telling South Africa Press Association.

A Zimbabwe information ministry statement said the delegation came to the country "in utter disregard of objections of the Zimbabwe government to the visit," state radio reported on Wednesday.

The ministry alleged the delegation included "dubious individuals" claiming to represent Cosatu who in reality were working alongside Britain, the former colonial power, and other Western interests critical of Zimbabwe and said the government "brooks no such interference" in its internal affairs.

'A bit embarrassing'

The government "took appropriate action to remove the intrusive individuals purporting to represent Cosatu", the statement said.

Cosatu is a traditional ally of South Africa's ruling African National Congress party. But its relations with President Thabo Mbeki's government have become strained over its policy of "quiet diplomacy" toward Zimbabwe's authoritarian leader, President Robert Mugabe.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said earlier on Wednesday the South African government would respond to the once it has been fully briefed.

He said South Africa's diplomats are in the process of establishing "precisely what are the circumstances which precipitated this drastic step". "We will be able to respond properly once we have that information," Lekota told reporters at parliament, adding that the incident "is a bit embarrassing to us as the ANC". Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic and political crisis since independence in 1980, with massive inflation and soaring unemployment. Labour meetings, political gatherings and opposition rallies are often banned by police. - Sapa/AP

- News24