Gaborone deports former Zim state journalist

by | Aug 11, 2008

Botswana has deported a former journalist from Zimbabwe’s state-owned Herald who had secured a teaching post in Gaborone, writes our correspondent.

 

Caesar Zvayi was recently added to to the list of prominent associates of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in terms of United States and European Union sanctions, on the basis that he was abetting human rights violations through his support of Mugabe.

Zvayi,  former political editor of the Herald, quit last month to take up a job as a lecturer at the University of Botswana. On Friday, he was served with a deportation order and driven to the Plumtree border post where he was deported.

Last month, Zvayi was defiant when a campaign was started by some Zimbabwean groups for him to be deported.
“I make no apologies for supporting Zanu PF because I subscribe to its Pan African values," Zvayi said. “I will never support the (Movement for Democratic Change) MDC as currently constituted because to me it is a counter-revolutionary TrojaBotswana has deported a former journalist from Zimbabwe’s state-owned Herald who had secured a teaching post in Gaborone, writes our correspondent.

Caesar Zvayi was recently added to to the list of prominent associates of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in terms of United States and European Union sanctions, on the basis that he was abetting human rights violations through his support of Mugabe.

Zvayi,  former political editor of the Herald, quit last month to take up a job as a lecturer at the University of Botswana. On Friday, he was served with a deportation order and driven to the Plumtree border post where he was deported.

Last month, Zvayi was defiant when a campaign was started by some Zimbabwean groups for him to be deported.
“I make no apologies for supporting Zanu PF because I subscribe to its Pan African values," Zvayi said. “I will never support the (Movement for Democratic Change) MDC as currently constituted because to me it is a counter-revolutionary Trojan horse that is working with outsiders to subvert the logical conclusion of the Zimbabwean revolution.”
“Being at UB (University of Botswana) does not mean I stop being a Zimbabwean, supporting Zanu PF has no bearing on my qualifications as a journalist or competence as a media practitioner. The maliciousness and childishness of this campaign (to have him deported) is testimony to the fickleness of the people behind it who apparently believe universities employ people on political grounds.
"They need only look at the University of Zimbabwe today, whose Chancellor is President Mugabe, but which employs vocal MDC office holders, sympathizers and activists like Dr. Lovemore Madhuku, Dr. John Makumbe, and Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, among others.”
Botswana has been Zimbabwe’s leading regional critic after President Robert Mugabe won a controversial sixth term on June 27 in an election widely condemned as a farce.
Zvayi's deportation was greeted with anger by former information minister Jonathan Moyo who warned that Botswana could strain its relations with Zimbabwe.
 “When a country has more goats than people, it suffers a serious leadership deficiency as is happening in Botswana where a primitive and intolerant military junta is masquerading as a democracy," Moyo said.

n horse that is working with outsiders to subvert the logical conclusion of the Zimbabwean revolution.”
“Being at UB (University of Botswana) does not mean I stop being a Zimbabwean, supporting Zanu PF has no bearing on my qualifications as a journalist or competence as a media practitioner. The maliciousness and childishness of this campaign (to have him deported) is testimony to the fickleness of the people behind it who apparently believe universities employ people on political grounds.
"They need only look at the University of Zimbabwe today, whose Chancellor is President Mugabe, but which employs vocal MDC office holders, sympathizers and activists like Dr. Lovemore Madhuku, Dr. John Makumbe, and Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, among others.”
Botswana has been Zimbabwe’s leading regional critic after President Robert Mugabe won a controversial sixth term on June 27 in an election widely condemned as a farce.
Zvayi's deportation was greeted with anger by former information minister Jonathan Moyo who warned that Botswana could strain its relations with Zimbabwe.
 “When a country has more goats than people, it suffers a serious leadership deficiency as is happening in Botswana where a primitive and intolerant military junta is masquerading as a democracy," Moyo said.