Mapula Sibanda
A BUS boycott seems to be the spark that set off last=20 week’s violence at Vaal Reef’s No 8 Shaft in which 12=20 people were killed and 36 admitted to hospital, three=20 with critical injuries; 62 miners were treated for=20 minor injuries and discharged.=20
The boycott started in September last year, after a=20 deadlock in a labour dispute between the Transport and=20 General Workers’ Union and Vaal Maseru Bus Services, a=20 private bus company.
Congress of South African Trade Unions affiliates,=20 including the National Union of Mineworkers, pledged=20 solidarity with TGWU, and called on its members to use=20 North West Star, an alternative bus service.
National Organiser for NUM, Frans Baleni, blames the=20 VMBS for causing a division among mineworkers at No 8=20 Shaft. “My members say VMBS commissioned one of their=20 colleagues to get people on their buses at a fee. The=20 person summoned all South Sotho speaking miners to a=20 meeting last Friday. This raised eyebrows among other=20 mineworkers, who found it strange for people to be=20 invited to a meeting on the basis of their ethnic=20
“In the meeting, the miners were apparently persuaded=20 to defy the NUM marshals helping to implement the bus=20 boycott,” Baleni claims.
Western Transvaal’s TGWU Branch Secretary, Patrick=20 Masupha concurs: “VMBS has tried on many occasions to=20 buy our people, to get them to campaign for their=20
After the meeting, the atmosphere at the mine was=20 tense. The mostly Xhosa-speaking marshals implementing=20 the boycott were targeted first. Speculations and=20 finger-pointing followed as miners tried to investigate=20 the cause of the violence. But, by Saturday, a faction=20 fight had emerged between the two opposing groups.
VMBS Financial Manager Marius Botha dismissed any link=20 between the company and the violence as `ludicrous’.=20 “It appears to be one or two NUM officials together=20 with one or two TGWU officials conniving with another=20 official from North West Star to do us harm.”
Seven VMBS buses, worth R7-million, were burned down in=20 Orkney, near the mine, after a Cosatu march on the=20 night the boycott was declared last year.=20
Anglo’s spokesman James Duncan agrees the bus boycott=20 lies behind the conflict, although he said management=20 was unclear what lay behind the boycott.
The situation at Shaft No 8 returned to normal on=20 Monday, after management and NUM representatives agreed=20 to proposals to maintain peace. These included the=20 establishment of a peace monitoring group comprising of=20 members of mine security, the South African Police=20 Services, officials from NUM and the two opposing=20 groups. It was also agreed that meetings will continue=20 to be multi-ethnic, and that hostel gates will be=20 manned by monitors agreed to by all parties.