This is a blatant and outrageous violation of trade union rights. We demand that they immediately withdraw from the offices, free all those detained and return the keys.

It is now clear that the Zimbabwe government is ruthlessly trampling on any remaining human rights.

The murder of Gift Tandare, the Youth Chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly in the Glenview suburb in Harare, the arrest, beating and torture of Morgan Tsvangirai and other leaders of the opposition, and the refusal to allow anyone, including doctors and lawyers, to visit them, are clear proof that the government will stop at nothing to try to crush the resistance of the people.

COSATU send its deepest condolences to Gift Tandare’s wife and three children.

COSATU also deplores the shamefully weak response to these latest outrages by South African government spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepe, who merely said: "We have noted the development in Zimbabwe. Matters of mutual concern are discussed within the existing diplomatic mechanism between South Africa and Zimbabwe."

Such a response is disgraceful, in the face of such massive attacks on democracy and human rights, especially coming from those who owed so much to international solidarity when South Africans were fighting for democracy and human rights against the apartheid regime.

We call upon the governments of South Africa and the rest of the continent to condemn the Zimbabwe government, demand the immediate release of those arrested and the restoration of human rights.

COSATU is mobilising its members in support of the general strike called by the ZCTU for 3 and 4 April, and calls upon all South Africans to join us and show their solidarity with the oppressed people of Zimbabwe.