COSATU plans to blockade Zimbabwe's borders

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) have called for a blockade of Zimbabwe's borders, ahead of general elections next month. The campaign has been prompted by the Zimbabwean authorities' decision to expel a second 18-member COSATU "fact-finding" mission earlier this week. The labour movement's first "solidarity" trip to Zimbabwe in October 2004 also ended abruptly after they were deported. "The blockades will be held soon," COSATU spokesman Patrick Craven told IRIN. The trade unionists met on Thursday in South Africa's northern Limpopo province, where they called for a special executive meeting of the Southern African Trade Union Coordination Council, to organise a regional protest campaign to press for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. The unions have demanded that the 31 March polls should be delayed until an independent electoral commission has been established; controversial legislation on human rights and the media - the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Privacy Act (AIPA) - has been scrapped; concerns over the voters' roll have been addressed; and the government abides by the rule of law and ceases harassing the labour movement, among other issues. South African government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe was quoted on Friday in the daily newspaper, Business Day, as describing COSATU's confrontation with Zimbabwe as a "sideshow". He told IRIN that the government was working from within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to ensure the elections in Zimbabwe were free and fair. He said a SADC team would be leaving for Zimbabwe "soon" to assess the situation, and the government would reserve comment on COSATU's intended protest action until the date of the blockade had been announced. IRIN was unable to reach the Zimbabwean authorities for comment.