[As usual… the ANC-dominated Govt of South Africa… uses its muscle to help Mugabe. In this case… the Congress of South African Trade Unions wants to blockade Zimbabwe!! The South African Govt wants none of it…

One does not have to be a Genius in order to see how time and again, the S.African Govt steps in at crucial moments, even if it means kicking other blacks in line, in order to save Robert Mugabe. Viva Comrade Mugabe! Viva Comrades in the ANC!! Jan]

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa may stop its main labour federation from blockading the border with Zimbabwe to demand democratic reforms ahead of March polls, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Tuesday.

Dlamini-Zuma said the threat by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to block the main border crossing ahead of Zimbabwe’s March 31 parliamentary elections would be dealt with according to the law.

“We will act according to the laws of the country, we are a law-abiding state and we go according to the rule of law and we will go according to the rules of the country,” Dlamini-Zuma told reporters in Cape Town.

COSATU has threatened to close the border — one of Zimbabwe’s key economic lifelines to the outside world — after a union delegation was refused entry last month on what it said was a fact-finding mission ahead of the election.

Members of COSATU, a powerful ally of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, were also deported last year during a visit to the country where opposition and labour groups accuse President Robert Mugabe of a draconian political crackdown.

A COSATU spokesman was not available for comment on Tuesday. The union group is expected to discuss its plans at a news conference on Thursday after a meeting of its leadership.

Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa was still waiting to see if Zimbabwe extended an invitation for a delegation from the regional Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to observe the elections.

“Of course, if we are not invited we will be very concerned,” Dlamini-Zuma said.

Political analysts say the March 31 elections are almost certain to return Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF to power, prolonging a political and economic crisis that has ruined the once prosperous southern African country.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday accused ZANU-PF of fomenting divisions within its ranks to weaken it before the polls — an accusation a ruling party spokesman dismissed as “pure lies.”

Britain and other Western countries have backed MDC claims that ZANU-PF rigged 2000 parliamentary elections and a presidential vote two years later in which Mugabe won another six years in office. ZANU-PF says it won fairly.

Mugabe, who turns 81 this month and has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says he is being targeted for retribution by Western powers opposed to his policy of seizing white-owned farms to give to landless blacks.

By Gordon Bell

Source: Reuters
URL: http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticl…/p>