Key Black Miners’ Union Chiefs Arrested in S. Africa

Police raided an office of the striking black miners’ union today and arrested 78 leaders and members on charges of conspiring to kill workers defying the strike.

The National Union of Mineworkers said the raid, the most drastic action by security forces since the huge walkout began Sunday, was part of a plan by the government and mine owners to crush the strike.

Cyril Ramaphosa, the union’s general secretary, said the arrests in Klerksdorp, 100 miles southwest of Johannesburg, raised to 177 the number of miners taken into custody since Sunday.

“We are seeing a whole pattern of repression that is beginning to evolve to try and destroy our strike,” Ramaphosa told reporters. “It was very well-calculated by the Chamber of Mines as well as the government to crush the strike by arresting the leaders and leaving the strikers leaderless.”

30% Raise Sought

The union, which is seeking a 30% raise, says 340,000 workers are on strike at 44 gold and coal mines. It said today that workers at three other sites--another gold mine, an antimony mine and the country’s main refinery for exported gold--had voted in favor of striking.

The Chamber of Mines, which has unilaterally implemented pay raises ranging from 15% to 23%, says about 230,000 of the nation’s 600,000 black miners are striking at 31 mines.

Whichever figure is more accurate, it is the largest wage-related strike in South African history.

A police statement said the arrests in Klerksdorp were made after union members asserted at a meeting that the strike was failing and that “radical steps had to be taken to prevent miners from returning to work.”

Court Appearances

Police said the men under arrest are scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Ramaphosa said the union has sent lawyers to Klerksdorp and is filing an urgent court application to get the men released. Of the murder conspiracy charges, he said, “It would be pretty stupid to be talking about murder at a union meeting.”

More than 30 miners and at least three mine security officers have been injured in strike-related clashes.

The Trans Natal Coal Corp. said a 36-year-old black miner who had continued to work in defiance of the strike was found dead in his bed Tuesday, “apparently murdered.” It said police are investigating.

The union said it also is investigating the death.

Workers Face Dismissal

Anglovaal Ltd., one of the country’s six major mining companies, said it plans to dismiss striking workers at the Lorraine gold mine’s No. 3 shaft in the Orange Free State.

The company said that there was “excessive intimidation” by strikers and that unless they return to work by Thursday they will be fired.

The mine workers’ union is not recognized officially by Anglovaal, which said it considers the walkout by its workers to be illegal. The company said 700 of the 2,450 miners at the No. 3 shaft had reported for work Wednesday morning, up from 200 on Tuesday.

Ramaphosa said a second Orange Free State mine, the Harmony gold mine, also is threatening to fire miners who do not return to work Thursday.

Officials at the Rand Refinery, where black workers voted to strike, said a walkout there would not disrupt operations. The refinery, on Johannesburg’s eastern outskirts, processes all of South Africa’s gold into the form required for international markets.