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Cosatu general secretary banned permanently from Zimbabwe
Basildon Peta, The Cape Times (SA)
May 23, 2006

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060523055315388C789564

This article was originally published on page 6 of Cape Times on May 23, 2006

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has been declared persona non grata in Zimbabwe and will not be admitted to the country while President Robert Mugabe reigns.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said it would mount a court challenge against the Zimbabwe government's "illegal" stance on Vavi.

Vavi's permanent banning by the Zimbabwe government came to light in a weekend court case in which banned trade unionists were given the green light to return to Zimbabwe in future - except for the Cosatu general secretary.

Vavi and four other international trade unionists were barred from entering Zimbabwe on Friday for the triannual national congress of the ZCTU at the weekend. Vavi was due to be the guest of honour.

Although Vavi was deported from Zimbabwe in February 2005 during an abortive Cosatu fact finding mission to that country, ZCTU spokesperson Mlameli Sibanda said the federation had been unaware that he would be permanently banned from the country, hence its invitation for him to be a guest of honour at its congress.

ZCTU lawyer Alec Muchadehama said Vavi was considered a "threat to Zimbabwe's national security". He said the government also accused Vavi of master-minding a "blockade" of Zimbabwe's Beit Bridge border post with SA before parliamentary elections last year.

However, no such a blockade happened after a South African court outlawed the Cosatu plan.

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