https://www.miningweekly.com

Lest we forget

13th September 2013

By: Jade Davenport

Creamer Media Correspondent

  

Font size: - +

Last month, South Africans marked the first anniversary of the Marikana massacre, in which 34 people were shot dead and 78 more injured during a wildcat strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine.

However, it should not be forgotten that August 16 also marks the anniversary of another mineworkers strike of equally devastating proportions – the 1946 African mineworkers strike, in which nine miners were killed and 1 248 injured.

As was reviously elaborated in this column, the brutal suppression of the 1920 mineworkers strike, in which 70 000 black miners protested against paltry wages and poor living conditions, crushed the spirit of black unionists and ushered in a period of relative peace in the industry, at least where black mineworkers were concerned.

However, by 1946, in the midst of high postwar inflationary conditions, discontent over the continued low rate of wages and dangerous working and poor living con-ditions, combined with a reduction of food rations, began to increase considerably among black miners working along the Rand.

Significantly, such discontent was greatly spurred by the wave of countrywide demon-strations against pass laws, as well as protests against the rising cost of living, which was aggravated by the considerable food shortages that afflicted the country in the aftermath of the Second World War.

It was in such an atmosphere that the African Mine Workers Union (AMWU), which had been established five years earlier, found ready listeners to its call for a united protest against the low level of wages paid to black mineworkers. When union embarked on such a campaign, black mineworkers were earning R87 a year, while the average white mineworker earned R1 106 a year.
However, before it embarked on the drastic action of calling for a strike, in May 1946, the union opted to first submit a formal request to the Chamber of Mines to increase the minimum wage paid to black underground workers from a daily cash wage of two-and-a-half shillings to 10 shillings.

As the chamber refused to recognise the AMWU, arguing that it was not repre-sentative of the broader black workforce, and black labour affairs were considered to be the jurisdiction of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, the industry representative declined to acknowledge the wage increase request. Moreover, the union officials were reminded that the black migrant workers had contracted to work at current rates and, when the contracts expired, they would be free to return home. Until then, they were bound to the con-tracts and the current wage rates.

Inevitably, the workers were dissatisfied with the chamber’s response and there followed a rash of minor strikes at isolated mines along the Reef. However, the police were quickly brought in and the protests were soon quelled.

But discontent among the black mine workforce continued to mount and the mood became increasingly threatening. By the beginning of August, the workers’ anger and frustration had become palpable. It was in that context that, on August 4, the AMWU held a protest meeting at Newtown Market Square, in Johannesburg, attended by 1 000 black workers, where union leaders called for immediate action. At the end of the meeting, a resolution was drawn that stated that, if the Chamber of Mines did not meet their demands, which included a minimum wage of 10 shillings a day and improved working conditions, the black miners would go on strike the following week.

As the chamber still refused to recognise the AMWU and its demands, the called-for strike duly followed on Monday, August 12.

During that strike, which lasted four days, an estimated 60 000 of the 300 000 black mine workforce downed their tools for varying periods and brought nine mines to a complete standstill and affected production at a further 24 mines – out of a total of 45 mines – along the Reef.

On the first day of the strike, the police arrested three union speakers for holding an illegal meeting on the New Klein- fontein mine, in Benoni. In response, an estimated 4 500 black workers surrounded the Benoni police sta-tion, demanding the release of the prisoners, but were eventually dis-persed by baton charge.

The following day, the most serious incident occurred at the Sub Nigel mine when strikers attacked police officers who were attempting to escort the men who had offered to return to work to the shafts. A hundred officers were subsequently deployed to the mine to maintain peace and to allow workers access to the shafts. The next morning, an increased force of 140 officers, 16 of whom carried firearms, returned to Sub Nigel. This time, the police were confronted by hundreds of strikers armed with weapons ranging from sticks, sledgehammers, steel balls, iron bars and knives. In the chaos that ensued, the police fired shots into the crowd, wounding eight strikers. The strikers subsequently fled in panic, trampling four of their number to death in a stampede through the compound gates.

On the same day, 4 000 strikers attempted to march on Johannesburg from the West Springs mine, on the Far East Rand. However, they were intercepted by police at Brakpan and, after refusing to turn back, were forcibly dispersed by ammunition and baton charges. Another column of strikers set off from the Simmer & Jack mine but was similarly dispersed as it approached the City Deep mine, in Johannesburg.

It was during that procession that police brutality reached a bloody climax, with roughly 1 000 strikers being injured in the confrontation with State forces.

By August 16, the black strikers had been bludgeoned into submission and returned to work without their demands having even been considered by the Chamber of Mines. Moreover, in the weeks that followed, hundreds of workers were arrested, tried, imprisoned and, in some cases, deported.

The most profound significance of the strike, however, was the impact it had on the national liberation movement’s political thinking – almost immediately, its protest against white oligarchic rule shifted from a policy of concession to more dynamic and militant forms of struggle.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION