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19 August, 2009
In April 2008, a group of dockworkers in South Africa performed an act that entered them into international political folklore. Together with their union leadership of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) and supported by their global union, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), they managed to turn away a shipment of arms from China destined for the repressive government of Zimbabwe.
The An Yue Jiang, a Chinese ship laden with 77 tonnes of arms and ammunition, was deflected from country to country around the Southern African coast for five weeks, seeking friendlier harbours across the SADC region. While the situation in Zimbabwe is fast deteriorating -- as the country approaches its presidential election run-off date, the violent crackdown and intimidation of opposition party members and followers have intensified. The delay and deflection in delivery of the arms cargo to Zimbabwe could effectively have prevented a complete onslaught against opposition supporters.
Sandile Gasa, a Satawu shop-steward based at the docks in Durban, South Africa. spoke about the solidarity action 'As South Africans, by standing up and refusing to off-load these arms, we are proud that we know we have not contributed to increasing the violent situation in Zimbabwe'.
SATAWU workers' actions revived belief in the power and radicalism of international workers' solidarity. By downing tools and refusing to 'shut their eyes and pass the arms', workers had adopted a tangible political position, beyond the realm of idealised union resolutions, press statements and memorandums. This was real solidarity in action towards their brothers and sisters in another country.
Union leadership has never before won so many plaudits from across the political and social spectrum in South Africa and internationally for such a simple action and many are starting to wonder why trade unions in South Africa and elsewhere are not utilising their power more to fight against oppression and exploitation, especially in the global context of neo-liberal capitalism that has eroded the living standards and working conditions of most of the world's workers. Here was an action that went beyond the narrow confines of trade union collective bargaining and briefly having a major impact on the politics of Zimbabwe and the region.
'In the planning department of the receiving department, we are normally the first to know about any ship. With the Chinese vessel, our suspicion mounted when the documents and contents did not match', says Sandile. 'We arranged an urgent meeting with other shop-stewards at the Durban Container Terminal about the suspicious ship, and considering the volatile situation in Zimbabwe, we passed our concerns to our head office'
Following the discovery of larger than normal containers on the vessel, in contrast to the regular sized containers described in the ship's documents, the South African Police Services were called in to conduct an investigation of the ship's cargo, and the huge containment of arms were discovered.
The South African government's cited "legitimate business transaction between two countries" as their justification for inaction. Deputy Defence Minister, Mluleki George argued that if the documentation were in order, China and Zimbabwe were sovereign states conducting business, and South Africa would not interfere. To the South African government it didn't matter that three million rounds of ammunition for AK47s, 3000 mortar shells and 1500 rocket propelled grenades were to be used against the people of Zimbabwe. But Sandile maintains that the documents were not in order. On this alone, politics aside, the ship's suspicious cargo and motive had to be investigated.
It is worthwhile saluting the valiant effort of South African civil society, from Church and various human rights groups to the labour movement, that stood in solidarity with the Zimbabwean people. A church group managed to secure a court order to prevent the ship being offloaded, but it was the strong SATAWU members' resolve not to offload the cargo that captured the world's imagination. It was the image of South Africa expressing solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, devoid of the vague political rhetoric by the Mbeki-led government's "quiet diplomacy" ever since Zanu-PF led by Robert Mugabe turned against working class and poor Zimbabweans over a decade ago. This act of solidarity by dockworkers and civil society groups highlighted how effective the often untapped political power of labour, civil society and community groups can be if they work together and build unity in action.
SATAWU's action was meant to create a domino effect against the deadly cargo and it worked, with the Mozambican government and then the local transport union in Maputo following up with similar solidarity support. SADC Chairperson, Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, urged the region not to accede to the transferral of arms, but to no avail as the Angolan government appeared to break ranks.
'Solidarity is important', says Bushy Shandu, another SATAWU shop steward, 'and we urge people of Africa and abroad to do the same in saving people's lives who are still oppressed by their countries."
"It makes us proud to be part of an organization that thinks beyond our own issues, it makes us proud to be a part of SATAWU. We (had) managed to prevent a sort of arms deal' Sandile added. What happens in Zimbabwe affects us, it doesn't matter if we are in South Africa. We need to support each other. It makes me sad to hear that (the arms have reached Harare). I didn't expect another African country to allow it to happen'.
The Satawu Durban dockworkers' disappointment was informed by the misleading reports of the SABC TV news broadcasts that reported that Angola, an ally of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party, enabled the arms cargo to be transported by air to Harare. Upon the learning about this, Sandile spoke for all of the SATAWU dockworkers in Durban when he lamented, 'if this is the case, it tears my heart'.
However, according ITF's Sam Dawson, the ship docked in Luanda but unloaded no arms. Local trade unionists affiliated to the ITF actually watched the ship offload cement and construction materials and nothing else. The ITF, because of its international network and experience was able to track the ship's movements from the beginning and is certain that the arms were still on board and returned to China. The ship also made no port calls apart from Luanda. It is apparent that reports in the South African media that the arms shipment made it to Harare were wrong and mainly based on the boast by Zimbabwe's Department of Information head, Minister Bright Matonga that they had received the arms. This claim was later contradicted by Zimbabwe's Defence Minister who later admitted that the claim was untrue.
Sprite Zungu, ITF Co-ordinator based in Durban who assisted the workers' solidarity efforts supported this view, "As far as I know, the ship was not carrying just weapons. Sources say that the ship had cargo for South Africa as well. And when it docked for an hour and half, it off-loaded building materials. The weapons were not off-loaded. This is just a rumour.You know what propaganda can achieve. By (the Zimbabwean information minister) announcing that the weapons had arrived, it was a way of frightening away those opposing the Zanu-PF. Satawu and the ITF were ultimately able to show the necessary international solidarity to the Zimbabwean people by stopping these weapons reaching there."
Sadly in South Africa, barely a month after the heroic action of the Durban dockworkers, the country' has been drowned in a raging tide of reactionary xenophobia against black foreigners, most from Zimbabwe and other African countries. Perhaps these latest events will serve as a terrible omen and wake up call to South African and international trade unions of the need to revive in practice locally in our midst and globally the socialist rallying call of "Workers of the World Unite!" so ably demonstrated by the Durban dockworkers, Satawu and their global union, the ITF.
This article appears in the South African Labour Bulletin and has been edited for reasons of space. It is written by Azad Essa, a researcher and journalist based at the IOL-Research, UKZN and Martin Jansen, director of Workers' World Media Productions; interviews were conducted by Bonga Ngwane, an organiser for NUMSA in Kwazulu-Natal.
GHOSTLY GALLEON
A ghostly galleon plies the seas
that give and take, build and break
on Africa's ex-colonies
on Mozambique, Namibia,
(sometimes mild and sometimes wild),
Angola and South Africa
Bang, bang, bang, the An Yue Jiang
is looking for a port,
but workers on the Durban docks
said, "Nothing of that sort!"
"Take your AKs somewhere else,
your mortars and grenades;
they'll use those bullets on working folk,
boys with dreadlocks and girls with braids,
waiters, vendors, gardeners, maids,
labourers with picks and spades,
farmers dragging the oxen's yoke"
There is a ghostly galleon
that plies the southern seas,
it carries death for working folk,
cannons and RPGs
It tried to dock in Durban
to drop its deadly load
but the Durban Dockers' Union
upheld the workers' code
Well it's a bang, bang, bang, the An Yue Jiang
is sailing round the Cape
with toys for the boys that make a loud noise,
that kill and maim and rape
Salute the Durban dockers
Salute those workers bold
they save a thousand comrades
from misery untold.
they saved a thousand comrades
but only for a day
the ghostly galleon will be back
terror is here to stay.
John Eppel -- SATAWU's worker poet
April 2008