18 April 2008
Cape Town — South African union members vowed on Friday to stop the delivery to Zimbabwe of a consignment of weapons from China which reportedly includes three million rounds of small arms ammunition.
And a public interest law centre in the port city of Durban announced that it was launching a court bid to prohibit the transport of the weapons through South Africa to landlocked Zimbabwe.
The weapons are in containers aboard the Chinese vessel, An Yue Jiang, which has been anchored outside the port since April 14.
Randall Howard, the general secretary of the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union, said in an interview with the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) that the union had notified the employers of its members that they would refuse to offload or transport the weapons.
He took issue with government statements which suggested South Africa did not have the legal standing to prevent delivery of the shipment. The issue was "a political question," Howard said, and if shippers tried to use scab labour to handle them, there could be violence.
In Durban, the Southern Africa Litigation Centre said it was applying to the High Court on behalf of two church activists, one of them Durban's Anglican bishop, Rubin Phillip, for an order prohibiting delivery of the weapons.
The centre said South African law required that any transfer of weapons be authorised by a permit, which could not be issued if the weapons could contribute "to internal repression or suppression of human rights and fundamental freedom" or if the recipient governments "systematically violate or suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms."
South African newspapers report that the shipment also contains 3,500 mortars and mortar tubes and 1,500 rocket propelled grenades, destined for the Zimbabwean army.
A newspaper which has had access to shipment documentation reports that it is dated April 1, three days after the Zimbabwean elections. It does not disclose when the order for the weapons was placed.
Early reports on the shipment quoted a South African military spokesman as saying that the government committee responsible for arms control had issued a permit allowing the weapons to be transported through South Africa, and that the government had no legal jurisdiction over weapons deals between other sovereign states.
However, the South African Revenue Services, which controls customs posts, said in a statement later that cargo entering South Africa could not be released until a number of procedures had been complied with.
"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," the statement said.
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I question the validity of this story. It also does not meet journalistic standards of disclosure. I was hoping allafrica would begin to reject authorless articles to promote greater transparent. Being open has killed African writers and why should we expect less from the Anglo Africa detractors? There is definitely something the authors of this authorless story want to hide. Since they are not saying who they are let me fill in the gaps. First, this is a typical Anglo propaganda in Southern Africa. And it seeks to undermine the democratic institutions of the region. It is usually a white Anglo writer, who want to define issues in the region, since they lack credibility in the broader Southern Africa region because of the racists views and past colonial ties.
This article assumes or rather pretend that Mugabe is the most hated person in Southern Africa, which is nonsense! How on earth do dock workers unloading cargo care if the weapons are destined for Zimbabwe?
Phiri, get a life! Actually, maybe you should go back to journalism school, and improve your skills so that you can make it as a reporter. Good luck!
Why didn't you go on strike last week? All you do is complain but cannot even go on strike to get your point accross - You want someone else to do your dirty work. Grow up idiot!
Phiri,
I would hope you are in Zimbabwe and when these weapons are unleashed to the masses you will be the first recepient of this present from China. Lets just assume you are correct that this is propaganda being used by the racist whites (by the way you sound more racist) why is the government of South Africa even bothering to make comments on it and why is it that a serious court of law in South Africa is scheduled to hear such "nonesense" as you so convincingly put it?
I would almost think that you have a hand in all this shinanigans old Phiri. Is it not enough what is happening on the ground in Zimbabwe for even a myopic person like yourself would see that Zimbabwe needs more resolve to end the current impasse before lives of hundreds of thousands of people are lost in the hands of your so-called African leader...
Why didn't you go on strike last week? All you do is complain but cannot even go on strike to get your point accross - You want someone else to do your dirty work. Grow up idiot!
To all those africans who think the west cares about us you need to think again.Its a great shame that some africans particlarly those in the diaspora(britain,usa)are so readily hoodwinked into believing the fallshoods emanating from western propaganda media.Look at the way black people are denied opportunities in these countries.Black people with masters degrees and phd's are working as cleaners and carers just to frustrate us.Are you then supprised that our black children loose interset in education after seeing there highly learned fathers doing such jobs?.Can you not see that this is the intention.To make us loose hope!How many black men in prison in britain and the usa?.can you honestly tell me it is because we black men have inherent criminal tendancise?dont you think that there is a direct link between this a d what i have mentioned above. Black people beware we are under siege!It is already late but we can still save the day if we open our eyes and see the threat on our doorstep. Take time to read about Black wall street(Google it) and find out how the usa government helped to destroy the economic aspirations of black americans.would so many of how brothers be in jails today if that had been allowed to continue. This time the western propaganda machinery is out again latching on this story of the arms shipment destined for zimbabwe.The truth is plain to see for anyone who wants to see it although unfortunately some of our people prefer to echo there masters(sky,bbc,cnn etc)voices rather than discern the facts for themselves.Zimbabwe still has one of the better equiped armies in africa.Mugabe does not need new guns to intimidate an unarmed population.An old gun can kill just as well as a new gun from China.When a gun is pointed at you you are not going to be thinking about, this is the gun that came from China.To you looking into that barrel it is just a messenger of death and all you know is that it can kill you in an instant.After all is it not ancient and makeshift weaponary that has caused the deaths of so many British and us troops in iraq.And yet these are superior armies armed with the latest high tech weapons.So when so called educated africans start echoeing there masters voices and getting hysterical about this as if this is the first time zimbabwe has imported arms of war it really makes me wounder what hope we have as a race. Our people should study history and learn the lessons.
As one reader has already pointed out was it not the Clinton administration and britain that armed Uganda and Rwanda(talk about traitors in our midst)to invade the DRC and cause the death of over 1/2 -1 million innocent congolese.There only crime was that there country is too rich and uncle sam wants his cut. Mugabe's intervention there is another source of the wests profound hatred of him.He spoilt there party. dont forget also that british companies were supplying arms to the rebels in Sierra Leone. Tell me how this could have been possible without the britsh governments awareness?Tell me again if a british company can supply arms to the iraqi shia millitias without the government being aware of it? Who continued to support unita in Angola even after they lost an internationally supervised election.Does angola not have the highest number of amputees in the world because of that western sponsored conflict. And yet these are the people most of you think are interested in our wellbeing.
If you look back in history and even right now you will find that the West have always supported brutal dictators in africa and all over the world as long as those dictators did there masters bidding.Nobody has ever called upon Museveni and Kagame to be tried for there part in the DRC genocide, unless you do not concider the death of over 1/2 million Congolese worthy of that title.Why?answer is simple.They are compliant.The day they sieze to be you will no doubt hear about it.But of course some of you will once again add to your African masters voices giving credibility to there convienient sense of democracy for our people.
Our people have suffered immensley from the hands of the west for a long time.Right from the time of slavery.To date they refuse to apologise choosing instead to blame us for being complicit in that heinous trade. Tell me did any one of our chiefs sail his boat to America and Britain to advertise that he had slaves for sale in his village.If you know of one please tell me. Look aparthied in South Africa and how for so long the West engaged with that regime with Reagan and Thatcher calling Mandela a terrorist. Compare this to the Jewish holocaust.Up to today nobody is allowed to forget what happened to the jewish people.Up to today any Individual Nazi who was involved is being brought to book.Banks that beneffited are being ordered to pay back.anything stolen from the jews is being given back if it can be found. Just because someone stole something 100years ago does not make it theres.No stone is being left unturned in pursuit of anyone who was involved in that terrible chapter. And yet right here in africa the same crimes by the same people were committed but not a sound from the fighters of democracy.I refer to the Herero people of Namibia who were subjected to similar treatment by the German army as the jews were.I find the silence deafening. in cases like this where blcak or african people are the victims the whole world wants to quickly forget and advocate reconcilliation and forgiveness.If anyone wants to mention it you are accused of being racist and are called all sorts of names just to shut you up.If you happen to be an african leader you are threatened economically. I believe in forgiveness and moving forward.But we should never forget what happened to us yesterday.History has a habit of repeating itself.
I agree with Phiri, there has been bad reporting on the story. Poor reporting that neglects international law, maritime law and the personality of Bob. Come on we can't take that story as it is, there's more to it than begin told. Think about the logic of it- yes we know uncle bob is desperate but he's no idiot, why would he pick the hottest period in the history of Zim to order such a large shipment of arms, from an investigated company. if you think of the Zim army and intelligence they one of the sharpest in Africa, they knew this years elections would be jeopardy so why would they leave the loop- hole of not having ammunition. its just a shady story all together.
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It is with great dismay that I read about Blacks in Africa squabbling amongst them. Why do we blacks always think that black on black crime is acceptable? The truth is: 85% of black crimes worldwide are between blacks themselves. It does not matter if a non black person is using another black person to perpetrate a crime. Let's be fair and not attempt to judge and criticize others. Remember the old Hindu adage, "Happy is the person who finds fault with himself instead of finding fault with others". Better yet, the Christian adage as seen in Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite; first address the rampant black on black crimes before you dwell on trivial white on black crimes. We must stop MUGABE from committing massacres on his fellow Africans, Black or White, and quite frankly, his victims are 99% black because of the demographics in the country. Mbeki must stop being a disgrace for Africans and quite frankly, he should step down. Remember, I am a black man, born and raised in Africa and don't they feel that they are more African than the rest of us.