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(HERALD) MDC’s Chaibva deported

MDC’s Chaibva deported
Bulawayo Bureau

MDC senior official Gabriel Chaibva was last Friday deported from Botswana after authorities there accused him of being a Government sympathiser. Chaibva, who was recently suspended from his post as spokesman of his party for attending President Mugabe’s swearing-in ceremony in June, was escorted by police from Gaborone and left at the Plumtree Border Post to make sure that he had indeed left Botswana.

In an interview with AFP, Chaibva said he had gone to Gaborone to meet Botswana government officials and ruling party members over their hostile attitude towards the Zimbabwean Government.

"I had gone there to meet some government officials to discuss a few issues, among them their negative stance on Zimbabwe.

"They are ill-treating our people there and their foreign policy on Zimbabwe is basically bad, but they would not listen and accused me of being a Government spy and their police accompanied me all the way from Gaborone to Plumtree," he said.

On the same day, former Herald political editor Caesar Zvayi was also deported from Botswana where he had been engaged as a university lecturer.

In a move roundly condemned as political, the deportation order was reportedly based on his being on the European Union sanctions list. Botswana has of late been sucked into the British-led political onslaught on Zimbabwe.

On Friday, political analyst and independent legislator Jonathan Moyo lashed out at the Botswana government for deporting Zvayi who had a work permit that entitled him to work at the University of Botswana as a lecturer.

According to an online agency report, Moyo warned that such moves had the effect of straining relations between Gaborone and Harare.

Labels: BOTSWANA, DEPORTATION, GABRIEL CHAIBVA, MDC

posted by MrK @ 5:00 AM