Zim arms meant to 'butcher'

2008-04-22 09:24

Johannesburg - The weapons on board the Chinese ship, which fled Durban harbour last week were clearly meant to "butcher" innocent Zimbabweans, the country's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Tuesday.

"Those weapons were not going to be used on mosquitoes, but (were) clearly meant to butcher innocent civilians whose only crime is rejecting dictatorship and voting change, and change they can trust," the MDC said in a statement ahead of talks with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

In those discussions, it would convey its "appreciation" of the refusal by the Cosatu-affiliated SA Transport Workers' Union to be party to the movement of the weapons to landlocked Zimbabwe, it said.

The MDC's secretary-general Tendai Biti was to meet with Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi in SA on Tuesday.

Biti would brief Vavi on the crisis in Zimbabwe as part of the MDC's "diplomatic offensive, informed by the need for African solutions for African problems".

Biti would also convey appreciation for the solidarity Cosatu and South African workers had shown the Zimbabwe people as they struggled to free themselves "from the painful hand of the vampire dictatorship".

"The hour of change has come. We are confident of victory. However long it may take, we have a date with Zimbabwe's prosperity and we will not be late, neither will we miss it," the MDC said.

The MDC won the majority of seats in Zimbabwe's parliamentary election, but the results of its presidential election had yet to be announced with recounts underway in several areas.

However, the MDC contended that this was an attempt by President Robert Mugabe to "steal" the election. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had already claimed victory.

- SAPA