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COSATU thrown out of Zimbabwe
MISA-Zimbabwe
October 26, 2004

The 13-member delegation from the congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was thrown out of the country on 26 October 2004 by immigration officials who told them they were not welcome in Zimbabwe.

The delegation had defied a ban imposed by the government ahead of their scheduled visit and arrived in Harare on 25 October 2004.

Immigration officials pounced on the team at their hotel in Harare’s central business district and told them that their visit had not been sanctioned by the government.

The Cosatu delegation was in the country at the start of what would have been a five-day fact finding mission as regional bodies pile up pressure on the ruling Zanu PF government to normalise the political and economic situation in the country.

The Secretary for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Lance Museka, on 21 October 2004 wrote to Cosatu secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi, pointing out that because the programme also involved meeting organizations critical of the government, "the mission was unacceptable".

"In order to avoid inconveniencing your members who are supposed to travel to Harare on Sunday, 24 October 2004 you are kindly advised to inform them in time that the mission has been called off," said Museka in his letter to Vavi.

Despite the government’s objections to the visit, members of the powerful South African umbrella trade union, arrived in the country on 25 October 2004, a day after their scheduled arrival.

Collin Gwiyo, the ZCTU deputy secretary-general, confirmed to MISA-Zimbabwe that the government had ordered the delegation to return to South Africa, but declined to give details of what had exactly transpired.

Besides meeting with representatives of human rights organizations and churches, ruling Zanu PF and MDC officials, the mission was also expected to ascertain the government’s position on the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill (Ngo Bill), the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Electoral Amendment Bill and the fate of farm workers on farms controversially acquired by the government under the land reform exercise.

The Ngo Bill which seeks to ban foreign funding for Ngos involved in human rights and governance issues, was tabled before parliament on 6 October 2004.

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