A Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe was last night forced to turn back after South African unions refused to unload it, claiming that to do so would be “grossly irresponsible”, South African media reported.

The reversal is a humiliation for President Mbeki, who had said that the Government was powerless to stop the shipment of three million rounds of AK47 ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3,000 mortar rounds and mortar tubes to President Mugabe’s armed forces.

It was not clear last night where the ship was now destined, or whether it was trying to deliver the arms by a different route. The retreat, if confirmed, would represent a victory for human rights activists, who had filed a legal petition to block the transfer of the goods, and also for the 300,000-strong South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, who had said that the arms would worsen the political crisis in Zimbabwe.

“Our members employed at Durban container terminal will not unload this cargo, neither will any of our members in the truck-driving sector move this cargo by road,” Randall Howard, a union spokesman, said.

“South Africa cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at a time where there is a political dispute and a volatile situation between Zanu (PF) and the MDC [Movement for Democratic Change],” he said.

Themba Maseko, a South African government spokesman, had previously claimed that it would be difficult to stop the shipment. “We are not in a position to act unilaterally to prevent a trade deal between two countries. It would be possible, but very difficult, for South Africa to start intervening.”

But responding to an appeal by Bishop Rubin Phillip, a leading clergyman of KwaZulu Natal, and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, the High Court ruled yesterday that the arms could not be transported to the border with Zimbabwe.

Armed Chinese troops were seen this week in Mutare, Zimbabwe’s third-largest city, where up to ten soldiers, carrying revolvers, booked into a Holiday Inn with 70 Zimbabwean officers and men.

Zimbabwe and China have close military ties, but Chinese soldiers are rarely seen on the streets. Witnesses in Mutare claimed that their presence was intimidating.

William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said yesterday: “It is important that the Government urgently makes representations to China and calls upon them to halt their shipments of arms to Zimbabwe.”

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