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ANC won't stop Zim blockade
Christelle Terreblanche, The Sunday Independent (SA)
February 13, 2005

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=6&art_id=vn20050213102011553C570077

In what appears to be a turnabout in the ANC, Cosatu this week received a tacit nod from the ruling party for its plan for mass action in solidarity with its Zimbabwean counterparts. Consequently, South African workers could soon be blockading Zimbabwean border posts as well as taking other steps. Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu's general secretary, said that the federation's options included a blockade by South African and other southern African workers of all Zimbabwe's border crossings. Asked whether a border blockade and other solidarity action were still being considered after the tripartite alliance discussions this week, Vavi was adamant: "Yes, we are doing that. We are going to our central executive committee and the Southern African Trade Union Co-ordinating Council to endorse that." Cosatu's first announcement of its intended mass action, after it was expelled from Zimbabwe for a second time on February 2, met some resistance from the ANC and the government. At the time, Membathisi Mdlalana, the minister of labour, said Cosatu's second attempted visit was without the blessing of government, but the ANC later did endorse the visit. It had condemned the first visit, which took place in October.

And while it appears that the ANC will not actively support mass action, it has agreed not to stand in the way of its alliance partners' solidarity mass action programmes. Vavi said three alliance secretariat meetings this week paved the way for Cosatu's discussions with other union federations in southern Africa about mass action in support of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). He said that the ANC had not raised any objections to mass action at this week's discussions. "If they are against it, they did not tell us," he said about what appears to be a breakthrough in the tense alliance face-offs over Zimbabwe and perceptions that any alliance action would be in conflict with the government's approach of "constructive quiet diplomacy" to resolve the crisis. "The ANC has said Cosatu has a right to have fraternal relationships with any other workers," Vavi said. "The Communist Party openly said it would support efforts by workers to pledge active solidarity with another union."

Smuts Ngonyama, the ANC's spokesperson, on Saturday did not explicitly acknowledge a go-ahead for Cosatu, but said: "It was not for the ANC to disagree [with the alliance]. The ANC agrees with the plan of action of the alliance [but] also looks at the priorities of the ANC in the context of what we would like to see and build in the region, such as free and fair elections. The ANC would never engage in any activities that would either directly or indirectly stand in the way of free and fair elections and would not say or do anything that might lead to a situation that other people outside Zimbabwe and South Africa may read as trying to create hostilities and pre-judge the elections' free and fairness," Ngonyama said. Mazibuko Jara, the SACP's spokesperson, confirmed that the alliance secretariat had given Cosatu a tacit nod. "Cosatu did not ask for approval but submitted its proposed programme. The alliance partners agreed [on the need for] an all-round call for solidarity with Zimbabwe, a South African contribution by unions, churches and civil society." He said Cosatu's programme was "narrowly" endorsed "within the understanding that all of us must make a contribution and our efforts should complement each other".

Cosatu's central executive committee meets from Monday to discuss its options for mass action, which it previously said included intensified pickets and demonstrations such as blockades of all border crossings with Zimbabwe and the setting up of a legal aid fund with which to help the ZCTU by mobilising "millions of workers" in the region. A week later, Cosatu intends meeting other regional union federations at the co-ordinating council to finalise joint action. In a report for discussion at the meetings, Cosatu said its Zimbabwean counterpart had raised concerns about the fact that a number of conditions for free and fair elections were not being met and had detailed the harassment and repression unionists in Zimbabwe were experiencing.

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