South Africa's trade union federation COSATU said on Sunday it would send a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe next month in defiance of President Robert Mugabe's government that says the team is not welcome. COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said after meeting Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) chief Wellington Chibebe the team would highlight Zimbabwe's political problems.
"The issue is to highlight what Zimbabweans have to go through. We must ... taste the medicine that they have to swallow almost every day," Vavi told a news conference in Cape Town, adding he expected his team to be denied entry.
The Zimbabwe government expelled a team from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in October, bundling union leaders over the border at night after accusing the group of unauthorised meddling in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs.
The delegation had hoped to meet trade union, government and ruling party representatives, as well as rights' groups critical of Mugabe, during what it said was a mission to help neighbouring Zimbabwe resolve a political crisis.
COSATU said it had asked the Zimbabwean government for permission to return to the country. This week Zimbabwe's Financial Gazette quoted Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mangwana as suggesting the application would be rejected.