Scores of train passengers were injured at a Johannesburg station yesterday as violence during the five-week strike by thousands of rail waymen reached a new peak. Martin Sebakwane, general secretary of the South African Railway and Harbour Workers’ Union (Sarwhu), said about 16 commuters and striking workers had to be admitted to hospital after ”vigilante” groups attacked people in coaches as a train pulled into Braamfontein station.
The attack follows a week in which about 1 000 workers marched on a police station in Soweto to protest against alleged teargas attacks on train commuters by members of the South African Defence Force. The South African Transport Services warned that industrial sabotage had caused a derailment in Durban on Wednesday.
A reporter, who was hacked with a panga across the forehead at Braamfontein station, said that armed men attacked the train’s passengers while ticket collectors looked on. The reporter, who asked not to be named, said the mob singled out people who did not have tickets and appeared intent on terrorising commuters into paying their fares.
”When the train pulled up to the platform these vigilantes attacked anybody who could not show a ticket to prove they had paid for the train trip,” he said. ”There was a group of white ticket collectors watching the whole thing from the background.” The strike is supported by township residents who refuse to pay train fares and riding the trains for free. A doctor at the Johannesburg Hospital told reporters that injured commuters had reported the presence of uniformed ticket collectors during the operation. ”Vigilante types obviously operating on Sats property in working hours were responsible,” said Sebakwane. ”They appear to have been given time off to undertake violent acts. They rushed through the coaches and started indiscriminately hacking and stabbing. This is no longer an issue between the Sats and strikers. The public is now involved.”
A Sats representative rejected the union version of events. He said the violence began after striking workers had pulled non-strikers into the carriages in a bid to stop them from working. The non-strikers retaliated. Yesterday Sats obtained an interdict in the supreme court to bar striking workers from entering railway premises in Durban as well as the North and South Coasts. A similar application in Pietermaritzburg was being heard yesterday afternoon. Sats labour manager Jan Bredenkamp said yesterday that industrial sabotage during the dispute had reached new highs and that 11 rail trucks were derailed in Durban after the lines had been uncoupled.
On Wednesday a coach on a Reef train was torched and the driver had to make an emergency stop near the Doornfontein station Sats deputy director of public relations Alan Lubbe said yesterday that the parastatal was prepared to ”go all the way” and fire 16 000 striking workers. So far more than 7 000 strikers have been dismissed and Sats estimates that the workers have collectively lost R12-million in wages. But Sarhwu yesterday protected its members from being evicted from Sats hostels when management agreed in an out-of-court settlement to allow two workers back in to the Delmore hostel near Germiston The pair had filed an ·application m the Rand Supreme Court asking for their eviction to be declared illegal.
The union’s attorney, Joe Nxusani, said the settlement meant Sats could no longer evict workers without first obtaining a court order. ‘ According to Sarhwu more than 1 000 workers have been evicted from railway hostels across the country. The strikers said they had been given only 24 hours notice to leave the premises and that police had been called in to ”chase us out”.
One of the applicants, Elias Mudzanani, said he had to sleep in the veld for four nights after being thrown out of Delmore hostel. Talks between Sats and Sarwhu early in the week failed to resolve the strike. The management of Sats is refusing to negotiate with the union on its wage demands saying the labour organisation must first register with the government and obtain formal recognition from Sats. – Eddie Koch and Mzimkulu Malunga
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
