About two weeks ago a ship laden with arms destined for troubled Zimbabwe sought to dock at Durban, South Africa. On its way from China, the ill fated An Yue Jiang had been under the media spotlight and as it approached Durban, manoeuvres were already underway by the South African media, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), individual citizens and most importantly the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union that ensured the weapons did not reach their intended destination. The union believed that the weapons would be used by the embattled Zimbabwean ZANU-PF regime to oppress innocent Zimbabweans, particularly Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters.
The union, which boasts about 134, 000 members, making it the seventh largest member in the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), launched a project named "Operation Return to Beijing", through which its members at the harbour and elsewhere would boycott any involvement in the movement of the goods from the vessel. Crane operators were to refuse if assigned to offload the cargo from the ship. Truck drivers were similarly to refuse to transport the weapons through South Africa to Zimbabwe.
