JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 2 -- A delegation of South African labor union officials, who had traveled to neighboring Zimbabwe to investigate reports of repression and human rights abuses, were deported moments after their aircraft landed in the capital, Harare, on Wednesday.
It was the second time in recent months that Zimbabwean officials had blocked a planned visit by the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Although a member of South Africa's governing coalition, the union group has broken ranks with its partner, the African National Congress, by sharply criticizing the ruling party in Zimbabwe, particularly its treatment of the union movement there.
Zwelinzima Vavi, secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, arrives at the airport in Johannesburg before departing for Zimbabwe.
(Themba Hadebe -- AP)
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Union officials from both countries immediately rescheduled meetings for Thursday, at a location on the South African side of the border. But the South African union officials said the deportation of their delegation had demonstrated that Zimbabwe's government, led by President Robert Mugabe since independence in 1980, had grown repressive.
"They have proved by this action that they are intolerant of human rights," said union spokesman Patrick Craven. "What happens to us on one day happens day in, day out to the Zimbabwe trade unions."
The incident came one day after Mugabe scheduled parliamentary elections for March 31. His government has been attempting to convince southern African leaders that it meets regional norms for good governance.
Over the past year, Zimbabwe has cracked down on press freedom, political dissent and the activities of human rights groups. But it also has touted several electoral changes -- including translucent ballot boxes and a purportedly independent electoral commission -- as evidence that the coming elections will be free and fair.
The last two nationwide elections, in 2000 and 2002, were widely condemned by international groups as rigged against the leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. That party has threatened to boycott the March elections to protest what it says are conditions inhospitable to democracy.
Mugabe's government controls all TV and radio stations and every daily newspaper. It also sharply limits campaign activities, and political rallies are routinely disrupted by violence. Supporters of the opposition party also have been killed, tortured and falsely accused of crimes, according to human rights groups.
Craven said the visit by the South African union officials was intended, in part, to determine whether Zimbabwe was capable of holding fair elections. The group's previous attempt to visit was in October. Under ordinary circumstances, South African citizens are permitted free access to Zimbabwe and do not need visas.
The developments are being closely watched in South Africa. The first attempted visit by the union group was condemned by African National Congress officials, who said it was a breach of protocol for one member of the ruling coalition to visit Zimbabwe.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been widely criticized here for his handling of Zimbabwe, which over the past five years has experienced hyperinflation, widespread hunger, economic decline and massive migrations to South Africa and other nations.
The African National Congress appeared to give tacit blessing to Wednesday's attempted visit, but Zimbabwe's labor minister, Paul Mangwana, complained that South Africa's labor minister had not sought proper clearance for the visit.
"They should approach their labor minister who will, in turn, write to us on their behalf and we will then make arrangements . . . not bulldoze their way as they are trying to do," Mangwana said, according to the state-run Herald newspaper in Harare.
