heres a tough kall

 
( this is a 
  black eye 
   jump ball )
--------------------------------



   who's the  imperial  tool here ?


==============================

Congress of South African Trade Unions
October 28, 2004


Media Statement on COSATU Zimbabwe Mision

COSATU congratulates its Zimbabwe mission


The Congress of South African Trade Unions
congratulates its members in the fact-finding
mission to Zimbabwe for their heroism and
commitment.

 Their courage in the face of harassment,
 threats and assault 
from the Zimbabwe security forces
 was in the finest
traditions of the trade union movement.

 We thank
them all for their refusal
 to be intimidated
and to stick to their mission 
in the face of brutal repression.
 And we thank all those,
 in South Africa 
and around the world,
 who have supported the mission
 and shown their solidarity.

We totally condemn 
the actions of the Zimbabwe government,
 which revealed its utter contempt
 not only for the principles 
of respect for human rights 
and
civil liberties, 
but for the rule of law,
 when it brushed aside an order
 of the Harare High Court
interdicting them
 from deporting 
the members of the COSATU mission.

COSATU believes that despite its early forced
departure, the mission achieved its goal. Its aim was
to talk to as many people as possible from the widest
spectrum and establish whether allegations of attacks
on human rights and trade union freedom were true and
whether there were conditions for free and fair
elections next year.

The police invasion of the offices of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions, the arrest of the COSATU
mission and their ill-treatment at the hands of the
police all proved beyond doubt that the government has
no respect for human rights and the freedom of trade
unions to function freely within the law. COSATU notes
the statement attributed to SA Foreign Affairs
spokesperson, Ronnie Mamoepa, that "Zimbabwe is an
independent, sovereign state that has an inalienable
right to determine and to apply its immigration
legislation as it may deem appropriate and in its own
interest." Zimbabwe, however, is a signatory to
international conventions that guarantee basic human
rights, including freedom of movement, assembly and
speech. The government's conduct this week has
attacked all these rights. No democratic government has
the right to deny entry and free movement to visitors
who, like the COSATU mission, do not contravene any
immigration laws and who obey the laws of the land.
COSATU's mission was entirely lawful, peaceful and
disciplined. As South African citizens they did not
require a visa. There were no grounds for denying it
entry and COSATU was absolutely right to insist that
they did not require government permission to conduct
the mission and to refuse to accept conditions as to
whom they could and could not meet. We accept that the
ANC government shares with COSATU the common goal of
restoring democracy in Zimbabwe, but that it is
pursuing a different route from COSATU towards
achieving this goal. Ronnie Mamoepa also said, on Radio
702, that the solution to the problems of Zimbabwe had
to come about through amicable discussion with the
parties involved =96 precisely what the COSATU mission
was trying to do. COSATU will not stop campaigning
publicly in support of our comrades in the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions and in defence of their right
to organize freely without any interference from
government. COSATU rejects with contempt the attack by
the Pan- Africanist Congress, who have congratulated
the government of Zimbabwe for its expulsion of the
mission. Nothing could demonstrate more starkly why the
PAC has been rejected time and again by the South
African voters than this statement in support of
dictatorial actions. The PAC is accusing millions of
South African workers of becoming "agents of
reactionary forces", a ludicrous charge that will be
greeted only with derision by workers and all South
Africans. 

COSATU will continue to campaign for the reinstatement 
of this fact-finding mission and will intensify its 
campaign of solidarity with the Zimbabwe trade union 
movement, whose problems were brought home to so 
vividly in the one meeting with them that the
mission was able to attend. We will be ready, if called
upon by the ZCTU to take solidarity action support of
their struggle for the right to meet, demonstrate and
organize, free of any interference from the state, in
line with the International Labour Organisation and UN
conventions. And we shall also campaign for the
restoration of democracy and for free and fair
elections.