Air Zimbabwe has stopped flying the lucrative South African route fearing that creditors will seize the plane, as happened in London recently.

The airline is on the verge of collapse. Unending labour disputes, a grounded fleet and the inability to fly the lucrative London and South Africa routes, have epitomised government’s failure to run the airline.

As workers camped at the Harare International Airport desperately pushing for an end to their misery, top government officials including Vice President Joice Mujuru who booked into a foreign airline for her trip to the rich southern neighbours.

Mujuru on Friday left to attend South African ruling party African National Congress (ANC)’s centenary celebrations in Johannesburg.

Workers are outraged at the seemingly lack of care by government.

Some told the Daily News that all Mujuru has done is to make empty promises.

“We sent some of our colleagues to the office of VP Mujuru before she left for South Africa and she promised to look into our problems. But then she left for SA, leaving behind an urgent national problem,” said one worker.

Last week police had to be called to Harare International Airport to deal with workers who had gone on strike demanding their dues.

Workers who spoke to the Daily News on condition of anonymity were not named said such treatment left them terrified.

During their strike, the workers raised placards that denounced Goche as a failure. The Daily News recently rated Goche as the worst performing government minister for 2011.

Air Zimbabwe is struggling to stay afloat, weighed down by debts estimated at about $140 million.

“The main culprits in the demise of Air Zimbabwe are the greedy politicians who are running the ministry,” said another worker.

Most Zimbabwean politicians in the coalition government have been snubbing Air Zimbabwe even before it abandoned the Johannesburg and London routes.

Last week, Air Zimbabwe suspended all domestic flights after its sole local aircraft developed technical problems, leaving scores of passengers stranded as most of the engineers are involved in the ongoing strike.