By Staff Reporter
UNITED Kingdom academic Professor Stephen Chan was Sunday evening arrested and deported back to Zambia by the Zimbabwean government ahead of August 23 polls.
Chan, a critic of the Zanu PF government allegedly said he was in Zimbabwe to teach karate from 21 August to 4 September.
However he denied those allegations as false.
Before his visit, state media had written an article claiming Chan was in the country to trigger mayhem if poll results are not in favour of the opposition.
Chan dismissed official claims that he had failed to satisfy immigration officers about his intentions in Zimbabwe.
“I was deported on arrival in Zimbabwe. The insurgency story was clearly a cover. They just do not want people to see an election that is not fully proper,” Chan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“The comments by the officials who refused me entry to Zimbabwe are untrue. They never asked me anything. I never mentioned karate at any time. In fact we said little. I was escorted off one plane, had paperwork issued, then escorted back onto another one.
“I teach karate free of charge around the world including annually in Zambia and Zimbabwe. But I cannot travel just when I like. I teach. Right now it is the UK university summer recess and I was happy it coincided with the elections. I have attended all but two of the Zimbabwe elections, including the one in 1980 in which I was deeply involved as an observer. So it’s become a tradition for me because I care for the future of the country and the future of democracy.
“I actually wasn’t going to write a book about this one. If a few short tweets and newspaper comments are destabilising the government, the government must be much weaker than it pretends to be.”
Meanwhile Chan is not the only one to be denied entry in Zimbabwe.
Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin was denied entry without explanation.
Former SABC journalist and Good Governance Africa CEO Chris Moroleng and three of his colleagues were also deported whilst they were in Bulawayo.
Human rights campaigner Rashid Mahiya, prominent lawyers Arnold Tsunga and Musa Kika and government critic Bishop Ancelimo Magaya were denied accreditation to observe the elections by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
