HARARE, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Thursday barred Zimbabwe's opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai from traveling to Morocco on an expired Emergency Travel Document (ETD), local media said.

    This comes hard on the heels of his attack on the facilitator in Zimbabwe's inter-party dialogue, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who accused Tsvangirai of being insensitive to the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans by trying to derail efforts to for man inclusive Government in Zimbabwe, The Herald said on Saturday.

    Tsvangirai, who was due to board a South African Airways plane on Thursday afternoon to the North African country, was intercepted at the OR Tambo International Airport, the daily newspaper said.

    Tsvangirai used the ETD on his recent trips to France and Germany although it was not valid for these countries. He was issued with an ETD after his passport ran out of pages.

    The MDC-T leader last month refused to travel to Swaziland for the inter-party talks using an ETD, arguing that he was being victimized by the Zanu-PF Government.

    Analysts said Tsvangirai's inconsistencies exposed him and his leadership qualities.

    A South African Home Affairs spokeswoman told that country's e-news channel that the MDC leader was barred from traveling to Morocco because he did not have the required documents.

    She said the South African authorities emphasized that no one was above the law and, as such, Mr Tsvangirai was unable to travel.

    "We discovered that Tsvangirai was intending to travel to Morocco without proper documents and we barred him. He could not proceed because something essential was lacking," she said.

    The official said although Morocco could welcome Tsvangirai, it was not possible for her government to let the beleaguered MDC leader travel willy-nilly without the required papers. "Though he is wanted in Morocco, we can't act on behalf of another government and that is why we can't let him go using our borders," said the official.

    She said the MDC-T leader was allowed to remain in South Africa since the inter-party talks were underway in that country.

    "We just allowed him to stay in South Africa because he is attending inter-party talks. He could have been sent back home," said the official.

    Tsvangirai wanted to fly to Morocco to receive a pro-democracy award awarded to him at a Moroccan political-economic forum in the Mediterranean.