Cosatu defiant, enters Zim for talks

HARARE – A team from South Africa’s main union body defiantly entered Zimbabwe on Monday, rejecting demands that it not meet some rights groups critical of President Robert Mugabe’s government, officials said.

The delegation from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), a partner in the ruling African National Congress government, was held up for nearly an hour by officials at Harare’s international airport on arrival for a visit Mugabe’s government had said was “not acceptable”. “They wanted a guarantee that we won’t meet the NCA (National Constitutional Assembly), we won’t meet a number of other organisations that deal with civil rights who are seen as quasi opposition bodies, said Cosatu’s International Relations Secretary Simon Boshielo.”We said we can’t give that guarantee,” he told journalists at the airport.Earlier Cosatu Deputy President Violet Seboni, who leads the 13-strong delegation, told Reuters in Johannesburg the group was “prepared for whatever, be it intimidation, be it arrest.We are ready.As workers we are prepared to die for our cause.”Seboni later said the grilling at Harare airport was “uncalled for” and that her group would press ahead with planned meetings with its counterparts in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, civil servant groups and, if possible, Zimbabwe’s labour minister.Ties between South Africa and its northern neighbour are delicate, with South African President Thabo Mbeki coming in for opposition at home and abroad over his reluctance to criticise Mugabe openly.Mbeki favours quiet diplomacy over confrontation, and met Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai – himself a former union leader – on Monday.Earlier Cosatu said it had hoped to consult with government, Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party, Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), unions and church groups to help resolve Zimbabwe’s woes.- Nampa-Reuters”They wanted a guarantee that we won’t meet the NCA (National Constitutional Assembly), we won’t meet a number of other organisations that deal with civil rights who are seen as quasi opposition bodies, said Cosatu’s International Relations Secretary Simon Boshielo.”We said we can’t give that guarantee,” he told journalists at the airport.Earlier Cosatu Deputy President Violet Seboni, who leads the 13-strong delegation, told Reuters in Johannesburg the group was “prepared for whatever, be it intimidation, be it arrest.We are ready.As workers we are prepared to die for our cause.”Seboni later said the grilling at Harare airport was “uncalled for” and that her group would press ahead with planned meetings with its counterparts in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, civil servant groups and, if possible, Zimbabwe’s labour minister.Ties between South Africa and its northern neighbour are delicate, with South African President Thabo Mbeki coming in for opposition at home and abroad over his reluctance to criticise Mugabe openly.Mbeki favours quiet diplomacy over confrontation, and met Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai – himself a former union leader – on Monday.Earlier Cosatu said it had hoped to consult with government, Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party, Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), unions and church groups to help resolve Zimbabwe’s woes.- Nampa-Reuters