Viva unions ....

This is the latest in the Zimbabwe arms saga. The South African government refuses to take a moral standpoint on this, citing the need to be "impartial". Motherfuckers.
Aside from the fact that they are now being VERY partial TO the zim government, no south african i have spoken to yet believes we should allow these arms to travel through our country. Allowing them to so so is tantamount to aiding genocide. I posted pictures of what mugabe's troops are already doing. This is what the ship holds, apparently, Several million rounds of ammunition (!) rpg7 rocket launchers and mortars, and a lot of rockets. These are offensive weapons ... to be used against the only enemy they have, the people.
A story most people missed was the angolan government's very kind deployment of crack troops and equipment about 6 months ago. Zimbabwe has fuck all left, no food, no goods, no jobs, but they have a world class army and riot police.
The more time pases, the more these african dogs make a mockery of the morals they espoused pre 1994. They are worse than the apartheid government. MUCH worse, for the people, and the country. But, let me remind people that when i was in school, terrorism was a real threat. Bombs were planted at petrol stations close to my school. We were instructed in identifying limpet mines, mini limpet mines, AK47's, makarov pistols, and numerous other russian made weapons. These ANC "cadres" including MR mandela, and current police chief robert mcbride, planted bombs with the sole intention of murdering innocent people. These men are now our heroes and leaders, is it no wonder we are facilitating genocide? I'm sure the kickbacks were generous, they always are .... The other kickback of course, is that while you cannot legally get a gun for self defense (it's not an acceptable reason, they have replied to firearm applications) these weapons currently in durban harbour will filter baclk into south africa, and will be used by criminals to kill innocent south africans. The fact that our government is allowing this to happen, shows clearly their attitude towards the people they are responsible for.
Yes this makes me angry, but what makes me angrier is the way this country (zim) has been totally ruined, in the space of about 5 years, from a healthy, happy, productive country to hell on earth. The only logical explanation for this behaviour from the dog mbeki is that he would like the same here in south africa, and judging by the international reaction, he would face no resistance at all.
What south africa has though, are people, who have morals, and conscience. This is NOT about colour, blacks and whites both understand what has to be done, and why.
If there is a blocade, i would be happy to join in and throw stones, petrol bombs, whatever it takes to stop the cargo. But refusing to offload the ship is a very good place to start. Sadly i think they'll find people anyway, or instruct our soldiers to do it. THAT WILL SHARE THE BLOOD EQUALY BETWEEN MUGABE AND MBEKI. But they both have so much blood on their hands it's a moot point.

Union refuses to unload Zim arms
April 17 2008 at 07:02PM

Opposition to a shipment of arms being offloaded in Durban and transported to Zimbabwe increased on Thursday when South Africa's largest transport workers union announced that its members would not unload the ship.

SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) general secretary Randall Howard said: "Satawu does not agree with the position of the South African government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons.

"Our members employed at Durban Container Terminal will not unload this cargo neither will any of our members in the truck driving sector move this cargo by road."

He said the ship, the An Yue Jiang, should not dock in Durban and should return to China.

"South Africa cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at a time where there is a political dispute and a volatile situation between the Zanu-PF and the MDC."

"The view of our members is that nobody should ask us to unload these weapons," he said.

Satawu said it planned to engage support from the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu).

Defence secretary January Masilela on Thursday that the scrutiny committee of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee's (NCACC) scrutiny committee, which he chairs, had approved the conveyance permit on Monday already.

He said a inspection team from the NCACC would still have to ensure the cargo met the requirements of the permit before the cargo could begin to be transported to Zimbabwe.

The permit would be endorsed by the NCACC when it meets next month.

Asked about the controversy surrounding the shipment Masilela said: "This is a normal transaction between two sovereign states. We are doing our legal part and we don't have to interfere."

In Cape Town, government communications head Themba Maseko said the country could not stop the shipment from getting to its destination as it had to be seen to be "treading very carefully" in its relations with Zimbabwe, given the complexity of facilitating talks between the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu-PF.

Chris de Vos, the secretary general for the United Transport and Allied Trade Union, said the union was "not happy" about the arms shipment being transported through South Africa.

"We are going to request an urgent meeting with the management. We are aware that members are very uncomfortable with the situation," he said.

He said that while no decision had been taken by the union on offloading the weapons and arms, the union leadership was not in favour of the weapons being transported.

Democratic Alliance defence spokesman Rafeek Shah said the government's approval to allow the arms to be shipped was "the surest sign yet that government has completely lost the plot on the Zimbabwe issue".

Shah said: "The world's astonishment at President (Thabo) Mbeki's political defence of Robert Mugabe will likely turn into outright anger as we are now not only denying the existence of a crisis in Zimbabwe, but also actively facilitating the arming of an increasingly despotic and desperate regime."

Kallie Kriel, AfriForum chief executive, said the organisation intended organising "an extensive campaign of peaceful demonstrations in an effort to prevent a consignment of Chinese arms from being transported from Durban across South African territory to Zimbabwe".

The SA Institute of Race Relations said on Thursday: "It would be unconscionable for South Africa to allow an arms consignment through its borders en route to Zimbabwe."

Spokesman Frans Cronje said that if the shipment went ahead, "South Africa's culpability in the Zimbabwe crisis would then be without question".

Noseweek editor Martin Welz told Sapa on Wednesday that "the cargo ship was openly delivering a containment of arms for Zimbabwe".

He said he had copies of all the documents, including the bill of lading and a packing list.

The controversial cargo packed into 3080 cases included three million rounds of 7.62mm bullets (used with the AK47 assault rifle), 69 rocket propelled grenades, as well as mortar bombs and tubes.

The cargo is, according to the documentation, valued at R9.88 million.

Welz said: "It's very detailed and even has the phone numbers."

Increased media interest around the shipment prompted both the SA Police Service and the SA Revenue Service to send their top public relations officers to Durban to deal with media enquiries.

Adriao said he would only comment on the ship once it had docked in port while Lackay said that the work of the SARS "is guided by the SARS Act and the confidentiality provisions in the Act".

Lackay said: "SARS Customs does not release cargo until the Customs declaration has been processed and the requirements of the any other legislation have been adhered to. On the basis of the documents submitted by the shipping line -- the company operating the vessel -- SARS Customs decides whether there is a potential risk, whether cargo must be inspected and whether or not goods will be detained.

"These are standard Customs procedures that apply daily to any cargo vessel entering a South African port of entry. At this time the vessel.

"An Yue Jiang is at outer anchorage or off-port limits and therefore the cargo is not deemed to have been imported into South Africa yet," he said. - Sapa