Power FROM the people

I really want to big up and respect to the port workers of South Africa and their comrades in Mozambique who have taken a people power stand against the disgustingness of Robert Mugabe's regime in the last few days.

As we all know by now, the results of Zimbabwe's presidential elections have STILL not been released some three weeks later. Yet, Mugabe's ZANU-PF is claiming there must be a recount because of irregularities.

The opposition MDC has claimed that their counts have shown that their leader Morgan Tsvangirai won outright, with no need for a recount. Independent tallies estimate that he got the majority of the vote but not enough to avoid a run-off.

The thuggish Zim authorities seem to be laying the ground for a bloody, intimidating, oppressive run-off. Already there have been reports of whole villages being dragged out of their homes, threatened and told that they 'voted wrongly' the first time around and that the ZANU-PF supporters won't 'let them make that same mistake again'.

And this is where the workers of southern Africa have come into play. A Chinese ship bearing a shipment of weapons is bound for Zimbabwe - everyone can put two and two together. We know what they want that shipment for.

But hear what? Zimbabwe is land-locked. The only way to get those bad boys in is through one of their neighbours. And port workers and truck drivers in Durban, backed by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, said 'no damn way'. They made it clear that they would not unload or move the shipment so that it could be used against their Zimbabwean brothers and sisters.

Rebuffed, the ship set off for Mozambique in hopes of a friendlier welcome. Unfortunately for them, the Mozambiquan authorities weren't having it - they were barred from entering Mozambique's waters.

The ship is now crawling to Angola in the hopes of at least refueling though it looks unlikely that they will get to unload, what with diplomatic pressure being puton Angola and Namibia. Meanwhile, a Chinese government spokesperson has acknowledged that the ship will probably have to return to Beijing.

I lavs it. That is true African solidarity...Commissiong et al, are you seeing this?

UPDATE: I just came across a very thoughtful, balanced and well-written article by the Guardian's Chris McGreal who has covered Zimbabwe for years. He writes about how there are may who are responsible for enabling the Mugabe regime, including the hypocritical and arrogant British government and white Zimbabweans, who didn't seem to realise (in the words of William Faulkner) that "the past is not dead...in fact it's not even past."