The Ghost of Sharpeville

The second shift of workers were ready to board the huge bucket that would carry them down to the bottom of the mine shaft, two miles below the surface. The scene: the No. 2 shaft of the Western Deep Levels gold mine in Carletonville, about 50 miles west of Johannesburg. Suddenly rioting broke out. A swelling mob of African mine workers, angered by a chronic wage and job dispute, went rampaging through the pit area, stoning white officials, looting and setting fire to buildings.

Shortly after 8 p.m., a squad of 22 policemen entered the riot area and pleaded with the mob to disperse. A vicious baton charge followed, punctuated by volleys of tear gas. Then the order to open fire rang out, and history seemed to repeat itself. At dawn eleven blacks lay dead, cut down by police bullets. Another 27 were injured.

To many South Africans, the scene brought back memories of another massacre, in which 69 blacks died in a withering hail of bullets outside the Sharpeville police station 13 years ago. The Sharpeville victims had been protesting the abusive passbook policy imposed on 16 million blacks in the name of apartheid by the ruling white minority government.

Happy Mine. By contrast, last week's incident at Western Deep -known ironically, as "the happy mine" because of its relatively modern facilities and good labor relations -grew out of a dispute triggered indirectly by a 46% wage increase. Rock-drill machine operators resented the narrowing of the pay differential between themselves and less skilled workers who had been moved into higher wage brackets. But the roots of the dispute reach far deeper and suggest the widespread dissatisfaction among black workers in South Africa with the gaping disparity between their wages and those of whites. According to one study, cash salaries of black mine workers remained virtually unchanged from 1911 to 1969, while those of whites increased by 70%.

South Africans were stunned by the sudden bloodshed. Students picketed Western Deep's offices in downtown Johannesburg with signs saying LOW WAGES CAUSE REVOLUTION and SAP [South African Police] is TRIGGER HAPPY. The English-language press called for an inquiry, and the Natal Mercury cautioned that South Africans should take the incident as a warning about the increasing tensions and frustrations generated by the years of apartheid. South Africa's implacable Prime Minister, John Vorster, seemed to take a different view; he praised the police for acting with "considerable restraint." Meanwhile, as the Africans mourned their dead, Western Deep's shareholders were assured that gold production had not been affected by the incident.

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