SA NGOs call for travel ban on Mugabe

deported upon arrival at the Harare International Airport on Wednesday last week.
Among other deported youth leaders comprise Young Communist League (YCL) National Secretary-General, Buti Manamela, South African Students Council Provincial Secretary for North West, Mothusi Tsineg, SA Youth Council executive official Nduluza Gceba, Young Christian Students Secretary-General, Bheki Mcetywa, Students Union for Christian Action, Thoko Ntone and Lucian Segami of the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum.
Addressing journalists on Thursday at COSATU House, Manamela, said the nation now want President Mbeki to effect a ban on the “increasingly unreliable Zimbabwean government”.
During the meeting, several South African NGOs Coalition (SANGOCCO), COSATU, The South Africa Communist Party (SACP), South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) and several other civic organisations were represented.
The organisations at the press conference called with one voice urging the African National Congress (ANC) and President Mbeki to put a travel ban on Mugabe and his ministers following the deportation on Wednesday.
The deportation came hard on the heels of an attempt by the ZSF delegation to visit Zimbabwe in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
Mothusi Tsineng of the South Africa Students Congress, North West Provincial Secretary, castigated this move by the government of Zimbabwe saying that the rule of law had now become a non-existent feature.
“The rule of law is not respected in Zimbabwe, and our passports were scratched by the CIO officers who were at the airport. The manner in which people are picketing in Zimbabwe shows that all is not well in the country,” said Tsineng.
There are reports that the deported delegation noticed the presence of CIO officers in the plane that was taking them to Zimbabwe.
“The CIO must operate and carry out its activities on Zimbabwean soil. It is not proper that they should be seen invading the South African territory to come and do their intelligence activities here,” said Buti Manamela, the Secretary General of the South Africa Communist Party (SACP) Youth League wing.
He said it was ironic that their own government did not subject them to such surveillance and it was saddening and alarming that they were now under the surveillance of a foreign intelligence organisation.
The decision to deport the delegation was indicative of the increasingly repressive and dogmatic attitude of the Zanu (PF) government.
The visit by the ZSF was made with the intention of making interpretations of the current socio-economic and political situation in Zimbabwe, meet with the government, the ruling party, civil society and the opposition to gain a wide understanding of the present political situation in Zimbabwe.
The visit by the ZSF was also an attempt to gain first hand insights into the impact of the wave of the displacements associated with Operation Murambatsvina.
Manamela pointed out that prior to this visit they had spoken extensively to the Ministry of Youth Development and Minister Savious Kasukuwere in particular and had also informed the Zimbabwean Ambassador Simon Khaya-Moyo.
“It is this kind of repression that contributes to the migration of Zimbabweans into South Africa. Without lasting solutions the crisis in Zimbabwe will continue to directly affect us here,” said the Secretary General of SACP.
The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum is a network of progressive South African civil society organisations, including youth, women, labour, faith-based, human rights and student formations engaged in the promotion of solidarity for sustainable peace, democracy, and human rights in Zimbabwe. – CAJ News