A weapons shipment bound for Zimbabwe could now return to China after African countries refused the controversial cargo to be unloaded.

Beijing has defended the cargo as "perfectly normal trade" but critics of President Robert Mugabe claim the weapons would have been used against his own people as a recount of votes from the recent bitterly-disputed elections is held.

On Friday, the 300,000-strong South African Transport and Allied Workers Union refused to unload the arms and the ship, the An Yue Jiang, was forced to leave the country.

The following day, Mozambique said the vessel would not be allowed into its waters and on Monday, Angola also refused it entry while Zambia urged other regional states to follow suit.

Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change party - who claims leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the disputed presidential poll on March 29 - said: "Those weapons were not going to be used on mosquitoes, but clearly meant to butcher innocent civilians whose only crime is rejecting dictatorship and voting change."

Meanwhile, in his toughest comments on the three-week-old dispute, South African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma has said Africa must send a mission to Zimbabwe to end a delay in issuing election results, which he called unacceptable.

Mr Zuma said: "It's not acceptable. It's not helping the Zimbabwean people who have gone out to ... elect the kind of party and presidential candidate they want, exercising their constitutional right."

Mr Zuma has distanced himself from South African President Thabo Mbeki, the designated regional mediator in Zimbabwe, who has long insisted on a discreet diplomatic approach.

On Sunday, Zimbabwe announced a delay in a partial recount of votes, extending a deadlock in which the opposition says ten of its members have been killed and hundreds arrested.

The recount could overturn the results of the parliamentary election, which showed the ruling Zanu-PF losing its majority to the MDC for the first time.

© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.