Millions of Blacks in S. Africa Go on Strike

In one of the larger strikes in South African history, several million blacks stayed home from work Monday, shutting down factories and crippling businesses to protest a new sales tax and the lack of a black say in government economic policy.

“A referendum was held in the streets of our country today,” declared Jay Naidoo, leader of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a 1.2-million-member labor federation and key strike organizer. “The result was a devastating vote of no-confidence in this government.”

Commuter trains and buses ran empty, trash went uncollected, downtown stores closed, most deliveries were suspended and Soweto, the black township of 2.5 million outside Johannesburg, was as quiet as a Christmas Day.

In the only major incident of violence, 15 black mine workers were killed and 43 injured in a clash at an Anglo American Corp. gold mine near Welkom in the Orange Free State. Two other people died in what may have been strike-related violence, police said.

More than 100 people were arrested countrywide after police, in some cases using tear gas, broke up 16 illegal marches and demonstrations. Nine protests for which permission had been granted were peaceful.

The two-day general strike, which concludes today, was called to protest the imposition last month of a “value-added tax” to replace the general sales tax. The new 10% tax is lower than the previous 13% tax rate, but it applies to thousands of goods and services, such as basic foodstuffs and doctors’ fees, that were previously tax free.

But the broader issue of who should control South Africa’s economy was at stake. The strike stemmed from growing discontent with the white-minority government of President Frederik W. de Klerk and fears that he is trying to restructure the economy before he sits down for constitutional negotiations with black leaders, expected to begin later this month.

“The success of the strike shows decisively that this government has no legitimacy to take decisions on behalf of the people of this country on any issue,” Naidoo said.

Naidoo also warned that the labor federation will step up its campaign unless the government declares a moratorium on further economic policy changes or opens a discussion on the economy with black opposition groups.

The strike had the support of a broad range of black labor unions as well as Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress, a close labor federation ally, and the Pan-Africanist Congress.

Among those strongly opposed were business leaders and the Inkatha Freedom Party, led by Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, who called the strike an attempt to muscle the government that could result in violence and endanger the economy, as well as negotiations.

The government contends that the value-added tax, along with other economic initiatives, will promote growth, create jobs and broaden the tax base to raise more money for social spending. De Klerk believes that a free-enterprise economy is the only way to generate the growth needed to help the impoverished black majority.

The ANC and most black labor unions have countered that the new tax puts an unnecessary burden on the poor. Those groups say that the government is trying to impose major economic changes before negotiations to make it harder for a new, black-controlled government to reapportion wealth. “The underlying theme of all these measures is to ensure that the economy stays in white hands,” Martin Nicol, an economist with the National Union of Mineworkers, has said.

ANC leaders have in recent weeks raised concern among business and potential foreign investors by repeating suggestions that they may use nationalization to redistribute wealth to the black majority, who make up almost 80% of the population. ANC leaders also have suggested that they may not repay new loans made by others to the white government.

The labor federation said 3.5 million people joined the strike.