2 More Die as Blacks End S. Africa Strike

A three-day general strike by more than 1 million blacks, the largest nationwide anti-apartheid protest since the South African government declared a nationwide state of emergency two years ago to quell growing unrest, ended Wednesday with police reports of two more deaths and numerous attacks on buses.

The strength of the strike continued to be evident, especially around Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth. A spokesman for the state-run rail line said that the number of passengers rose again Wednesday, as they had Tuesday from Monday’s figure, but were still well below normal. Schools were empty in Johannesburg-area black townships for the third consecutive day.

A spokesman for the Assn. of Chambers of Commerce was quoted by state-run radio as saying that the strike had delivered a $250-million blow to South Africa’s economy. About half of that total was in lost wages; most employers are refusing to pay workers taking part in the protest, the spokesman said.

The strike’s organizers saw it as an important show of strength for anti-apartheid groups, whose leaders have been detained, their meetings broken up by the police and their activities circumscribed by emergency regulations.

But newspapers known to reflect the government’s thinking said that the large number of absentees was primarily the result of intimidation and a lack of transportation. Ten people have died in township violence since Monday, although no one has said how many of the deaths were directly related to the strike.

The protest was called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions--with 750,000 members, the largest black labor federation--and endorsed by many of the country’s leading clergymen as well as by anti-apartheid groups. It was aimed at proposed labor legislation that would restrict the unions’ right to strike, and at a Feb. 24 clampdown on the political activity of COSATU, as the trade unions congress is called, along with 17 anti-apartheid groups.

Seen as Rallying Point

Although union objections to the proposed labor law have been heard by Parliament, the overwhelming majority of COSATU members, being black, have no vote in national affairs under the white minority-led government.

Employer groups say the legislation, which the unions charge strips them of much of their power, is similar to laws in Western democracies, and they have accused unions of using the bill as a rallying point for protests aimed at government apartheid policies.

“If the unions are trying to enlist the employers in their fight against government restrictions and apartheid, probably the worst way of doing this is shutting down the employers’ factories for three days,” Bobby Godsell, chairman of the South African Consultative Committee on Labor Affairs, an industry association, said.

In a report on overnight unrest, the police said Wednesday that a 2-year-old child was killed with a shotgun and a 22-year-old man was hacked to death near Pietermaritzburg, the scene of more than a year of fighting between rival black groups that disagreed on whether to take part in this week’s strike.

About two dozen buses, trucks, police vehicles and residences were firebombed or stoned, the police said. Fifteen persons were injured and 25 arrested, including four who were accused by police of attempting to intimidate workers into staying off the job.

COSATU said 3 million people stayed away from work Monday, 2.5 million Tuesday and slightly fewer Wednesday. Other groups estimated that about 1.5 million workers stayed away at the height of the strike.

Despite the generally broad support for COSATU’s protest, the overwhelming majority of workers in the mining industry, who are represented by COSATU’s largest affiliate, went to work all three days.