Press Statement
StreetNet International Co-ordinator deported from Zimbabwe

Pat Horn, StreetNet International Co-ordinator and guest of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions who had flown to Harare to attend the ZCTU Silver School of Labour in Harare yesterday, was forced by Zimbabwean immigration officials and security police to spend a night in the Harare Airport police station charge office and to catch a plane back to Johannesburg first thing this morning. StreetNet is an international federation of 20 street vendor organisations in 18 countries, with its head office in Durban, South Africa.

Ms Horn was invited by StreetNet affiliate the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to facilitate a session at the ZCTU Silver School of Labour on the ILO perspective of "a decent work agenda in the informal economy" in Harare. The School, commenced from 27th of February was to launch a colloquium for formal and informal workers in Zimbabwe as part of the ZCTU's celebration of 25th years of existence.

StreetNet with the ZCTU condemns the interference in trade union organisation and the Zimbabwean Government's violation of freedom of Association and movement. The ZCIEA, which is an affiliate of the ZCTU, has been organising under conditions which can only be described as horrific. Thousands of informal traders saw their shelters and homes destroyed in the Mugabe Government's Operation Marambatsvina last year. Now Zimbabwe informal economy workers are trying to put their livelihoods on a more secure footing and are doing so by exercising their right to organise and to solve the problems that they to face in order to earn a living in Zimbabwe. "COSATU and now StreetNet have been rudely told they are not welcome in Zimbabwe - however we will not give up the struggle for decent work for informal economy workers," Ms Horn said.

The ZCTU in a press statement issued from Harare said that police had tried to stop the Silver School from commencing on the first day and claimed that they had information that the ZCTU was hosting visitors from COSATU. "Police had insisted on sitting through the activities but officials from the ZCTU denied them that chance. They spent the whole day seated outside the Silver School venue," ZCTU information officer Mlameli Sibanda said. ZCTU said that the deportation of Ms Horn was similar to the action carried out on a delegation from COSATU in February 2005.

Issued by StreetNet 2nd March 2006

For more information and to write a message of support, please visit www.streetnet.org.za