Zim: Cosatu members 'abused'

2004-10-29 08:39

Deon de Lange

Johannesburg - Members of the failed mission of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to Zimbabwe became embroiled in physical altercations with immigration officials at the Harare airport.

One woman was pulled by her hair and fell to the ground.

Violet Seboni, the feisty second vice-president of Cosatu and leader of the delegation, said the group were abused by members of the Zimbabwean security forces and immigration officials.

She explained that a metal detector at the airport eventually caused members of the mission and immigration officials to come to blows.

"We were walking through the metal detectors in three different queues when one of the machines triggered an alarm.

"A few of the immigration guys aggressively grabbed Simon Boshiele, Cosatu's head of international affairs.

"Members of the delegation rushed to his aid and a scuffle ensued."

One of the delegates was grabbed by the hair during the altercation and ended up on the floor. Her shoulder was apparently injured as well.

When asked whether they would return to Zimbabwe at a later stage and whether they still plan to barricade the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa, Bheki Ntshalintshali, deputy secretary general of Cosatu, said this decision would be taken at a meeting of the Cosatu leadership later this year.

Seboni said the delegation knew before it left for Zimbabwe that there could be problems, but decided to go anyway because they were all former activists for worker rights and are not intimidated by threats.

Regarding the South African government's policy of silent diplomacy towards Zimbabwe, Seboni said: "Just as Cosatu cannot dictate to the South African government how it should handle this situation, government can also not tell the workers of South Africa what to do."

- Beeld