A heavy contingent of armed mine security police confronted me on arrival at the gates of the embattled Shaft number one of Anglo American’s President Steyn Gold Mine at 4.20pm. This was minutes after two white miners had been killed and 15 blacks severely injured in this trouble-torn Orange Free State town.
”F** off, ons soek nie kaffirs hierso,” said amine security policeman, pointing his shotgun at me. As I sped off from the mine, I saw the body of a white worker being pulled from a red Volkswagen Jetta by mine security guards. I drove to the Ernest Oppenheimer Mine Hospital where, minutes later, an ambulance off-loaded injured black miners. Four white miners were admitted to the local provincial hospital. Far rightwingers yesterday declared war on -”ANC black murderers” as Welkom seethed with anger. ”The time bas come for the white man to live under the protection of the gun,” said local Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging chief Blikkies Blignaut.
The Conservative Party said it was now compelled to protect the lives of whites in Welkom. The National Union of Mineworkers attempted to defuse the situation by Calling on workers to ”remain calm and exercise maximum discipline”. The dispute allegedly started when 32 miners were singled out by the mine captain, the underground manager and the ”chief boss” for wearing African National Congress colours, according to union officials. ”We were beaten up by the officials and taken to a hearing where we were fold that we have been dismissed for intimidating white workers underground.” said one worker.
The violence broke out when about 400 black miners demonstrated against the dismissals. Management called in mine security guards who, according to workers, opened fire without giving any warning. ”It was peaceful all day and workers were toyi-toying towards the administration block when suddenly the security guards fired at us,” said a NUM shop steward. Mine management said last night that mine Security police had opened fire with rubber bullets and 9mm pistols when black mineworkers had marched and toyi-toyied towards a group of about 20 mine officials ”in a threatening and menacing manner.”
Within minutes two white men one of them hundreds of metres from the shooting incident – had been murdered and another four wounded, the mine official said. Tension then rose with rightwing miners calling for ”revenge and blood” as dozens of angry AWB and Blanke Veiligheid supporters waited outside the Jan Hofmeyer Police Station demanding a curfew from 9pm to 6am to ”protect ourselves”.
The AWB warned the government that unless security forces acted urgently, no power on earth would stop them from taking drastic steps to protect themselves. The A WB statement said ”cruel incidents” in which white miners had been injured by blacks underground had been reported to the A WB. The A WB said in one incident a white miner’s scrotum was crushed by stones and a doctor had to remove one his testicles.
President Steyn mine ground to a halt yesterday after AWB leader Eugene TerreBlanche called on white mine workers not to go underground until the minister of law and order had addressed the safety of his members. Meanwhile, at a meeting on Wednesday, Thabong residents near Welkom voted overwhelmingly in favour of continuing with their two-week old consumer boycott. The boycott has been called in protest against blacks being attacked by armed white rightwing vigilantes.
*The Minister of Law and Order, Adriaan Vlok, will today attend a meeting in Welkom with NUM president Cyril Ramaphosa and representatives of the SA Defence Force, the police, Anglo American and the Chamber of Mines. They will discuss the conflict, according to NUM representative Hjerry Majatladi. The managing director of Anglo’s gold and uranium division, Lionel Hewitt, said last night the mine management would meet all worker representatives to seek an urgent solution to the racial tension and violence. Both sides of the political spectrum had been approached and asked to remain calm and work toward the solution of the ”volatile situationâ€. – Phil Molefe (arrives in Welkom minutes after this week’s killings)
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
