Zimbabwe security authorities today seized the passport one of the country's leading newspaper publishers, apparently under a new law allowing the government to block travel by its critics, the publisher said. Trevor Ncube, who owns Zimbabwe's largest private newspaper group and also publishes South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper, said his passport had been taken after he arrived at the airport by a man who identified himself as an officer from Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation.President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF in August used its parliamentary majority to push through a set of constitutional changes that critics say further entrenches his rule - among them a new provision allowing the government to impose travel bans on "traitors".
Mr Ncube, who is based in South Africa, said he was stopped upon arriving in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo with his family on a trip to attend a wedding. Mr Ncube said he was later told by other sources in Bulawayo that his passport had been seized because his name appeared on a list of up to 64 Zimbabwean citizens who had been identified as government critics.
Zimbabwe officials have denied media reports they were drawing up a list of those to be subject to the travel ban, and there had been no prior reports of the law being invoked.
Mr Ncube, who has been critical of both Mr Mugabe's government and the Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said he was allowed to accompany his family home after his passport was taken. He said he was referred to a senior immigration official in Bulawayo, but he had been unable to reach him. Officials were not immediately available for comment.