Zimbabwe’s Justice minister claims he was detained for two hours at the Munich International Airport last week as German authorities sought to enforce a travel ban imposed on President Robert Mugabe’s inner circle.

Mr Patrick Chinamasa was on his way from Brussels where he was part of a three member Zimbabwean ministerial team that met European Union (EU) officials as part of efforts to kick start negotiations to normalise relations.

He had been granted a special visa specifically for the talks as he is among more than 200 people associated with Mr Mugabe’s Zanu PF party who are banned from travelling to EU countries.

Last week’s arrest was the third in a row

When the talks started early this year he was detained by police and immigration officials at the Frankfurt International Airport for seven hours.

On his way to Brussels last week he was also briefly detained.

The other ministers from the two Movement for Democratic Change formations led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara did not have any disruptions to their travel.

“They gave me a visa as an exception to attend the dialogue and I expected all the EU countries to respect it,” Mr Chinamasa told the state owned Herald on Monday.

“There is an element of bad faith on their part. We thought the visa was given in good faith and everyone was supposed to respect it.

“It’s either their systems are insufficient or they are just not interested in dialogue.”

The Zanu PF representative in the dialogue is considered a hardliner and his treatment may complicate the talks already threatened by the EU’s insistence that President Mugabe must first demonstrate his willingness to share power before ties are normalised.

Professor Jonathan Moyo, a former Information minister and leading Zanu PF legislator said the detention was done deliberately to frustrate the talks.

“They know Minister Chinamasa is the key man on the Zanu PF side and if they break him down emotionally through this harassment, they will have dented Zanu PF,” Prof Moyo told the Herald. “Such actions should not be expected from supposedly civilized people.”

The EU slapped Zimbabwe with targeted sanctions 10 years ago following a series of disputed elections.

President Mugabe says Britain influenced EU members to impose the sanctions because they were not happy that Zimbabwe had taken away land from white commercial farmers during its contentious land reform programme.

Meanwhile, immigration officials at the Beitbridge border, the busiest point of entry between Zimbabwe and South Africa say at least 4,000 Zimbabweans entered the country last week alone as locals took heed of warnings of xenophobic attacks after the soccer World Cup.

There are heightened fears of a repeat of the xenophobic violence that engulfed South Africa two years ago after foreigners were warned to leave the country before the tournament ends.
The curtain came down on the first World Cup to be held on African soil on Sunday night.

Zimbabwean immigration officials said the number of the undocumented travellers had jumped from an average of 1,300 in the previous weeks.

Harare’s Road port long distance bus terminus was teeming with travellers on Monday as scores of people arrived back from South Africa.