m - DISA

[fmgn 33
mturn to th«lr homes In the bantuetens. It appears
Chat they were willing to work in time to make this
possible.
Conflicting statements by officials of the
o«n»ra of tha mine, Gwncor, described demege as
'minimal' end as ( tha worst I hava 9mmn % (Star,
18.03.02).
Tha situation wee atill tansa tha n**t morning
and tha trouble was expected to spread to otner mine*
at aome atage. Horkere agreed to raturn to vork while
tha matter was being discussed with tha white unions.
Thasa unions coma into tha picture because thay had
agreed to an 11-day fortnight, on tha way to establishing
a five-day working week (chair ultimata demand).
Tha african miners' demends would, therefore, mean that
not all white miners would have a regular 11-day
fortnight.
Arrie Paulus, generel secretary of the Uineworfcera'
Union, said that he hod refused the request for the
and of the month frm Saturday - 'the only change
his union would favour would be a five-day weak*.
Negotiations between Gencor and white (!) unions
were aaid to be continuing.
TRADE UHIOTS AMD uMONISTS
Tha Ciskei authorities are taking a long hard look at
the South African Allied workers Union (SAAtfU) after
the lateat trial of strength between the two bodies.
A mammoth court cese which lad to the conviction
of 35 SAAmU members under tha Riotous Assemblies Act
waa only the lest of severel clashes betwaen the tract*
union and the 'government' it so atrongly rejects.
Held in the Zwelitsha magistrate's court, the
case was completed some three months after it opened,
whan 35 'ciakelent* were charged under one of several
eecurlty lews retained whan the bantuaten opted for
South Africa's version of 'Independence'. Forty-two
SAAiU members were originajly charged with inciting
public violence at a bus terminus In Udantsane
during September last year (see *IP20:S0). They were
ell erreated after getting off a bua tmklng them home
froa a SAAWU meeting held at the height of the
•11son Rowntree dispute.
They elao allegedly sang Inflammatory songs
calling for the head of the Ciakai Central Intelligence
Service (the CCIS), Uejor General Charles Sebe, to be
killed.
During the trial CCIS members told how the bus
arrived at the terminus with people singing loudly,
while other atuck clenched fleta out of tha windows.
Some passengers were allegedly elnging 'Charles Saba
will die' and said that thay would -always follow
Gqweta', « reference to SAAWU preaident Thozemlle
Gqwete.
At the end of the state'e came SAAPJPJ's advocate,
M Brassey, celled for ell 42 to be discharged, eeylng
thet the prosecutor had felled to prove who the
principal perpetretors were and what their cowman cause
was.
The magistrate. J Kotie, turned down the
application, saying that he could not reject ell the
fttata evidence.
Of the original 4?f 36 were found guilty on the
•eln -Jrirpe of incitement end sentenced to pay P10G
fines. They were elso sentenced to nine months
Imprisonment each, suspended conditionally for five
years.
five were found not guilty end discharged eftar
claiming they wwrw 'innocent bystanders', A warrant
of arrest was issued for m sixth accused, Nuku Koliai,
who felled to eppeer on the day of Judgement,
The 42nd accused did not live to see the end of
the trail. He was stabbed to death over the Christmas
period in a brawl.
After sentence was p»sed Sebe warned that the
Clekel was considering banning SAAVU.
'X have seld on various occasions they (SAWJ)
do not atand for any trade union*, he told the Oelly
Dispatch newspaper. 'Today we have brought them to
court and got a conviction. X em glad we have proven
our case to the »rld.
•ww have b—n accused, particularly mm, of
harassing SAA*U members. U is now in the hands of
the government whether to ben SAAVU.*
The Ciskelan threat ccjnws et the end of e long,
sometimes vicious war between the two bodies.
Just over two years BQO the Ciskei authorities
fired the first shots in tha war when it refused to
give 8ANPAJ officee in the Mdantsa/iw shopping complex
- Sebe cleimed trade union* were redundant in the
Ciskei because tha 'government of Ciskei looks Into
the problems of wvery worker*.
Since then approximately 300 SAAMu membere have
been detelned, either by the South African security
police or the CCIS.
Thozemlle Oqwete himself has been detained
five tinw without being convicted of en offence, and
wee also picked up during tha Zwelitsha trial. After
being accused by CCIS officers of 'waking petrel
bombs end pamphlets 1 , he ems released.
Lest year 6Qweta*s home was mysteriously set
elight end two close relatives - his mother and an
uncle - died in the fire, allegedly because somebody
had wirwd bcth entrances closed (see «P21:61-3).
At their funerel Gamete's girlfriend, Oeliswe
Roxiso, was shot deed when shots were fired et a
crowd of mourners.
Recently Thoiemlle Gq%eta was detained for 66
days by the South African security police. He wee
released *for heelth reesone* efter being admitted
to a psychiatric ward.
- Eastern Cape correspondent.
The deeth In detention of mall Aggett hee domineted
the labour scene both locally and Internationally.
It la quite remarkable how the atete and its media/
propaganda arm, the 9A8C, has toned down its coveregw
of the Polish situetlon now thet the local repression
of the working class and its leaders hee hed such
internetlonel coverege.
Hell Aggett was not the first, end will probebly
not be the lest. Trade unionists who ere known to
have died in detention:
Looksmert Ngudle September 1963
Celeb mwyeklso 1969
Luke wwzwembe 1976
Lawrence Ndzenge January iffTfi
Elijah LOM 1977
Neil Aggett February 1982
The offices of the Black Allied worker* Union
(BAeU) in Nmwceetle were raided by security police en
Tuesday, 19 Jenuery, 1961. Documents end some
correspondence waa removed,
A preyer meeting that was to be held by the
Uwdle fforkers 1 Association of South Africa (sVASA)
was cancelled when the security police intimidated the
prleat in whose church It was to have teken place.
Cers of MMASA members who were already et the venue
were searched {Star, 15.02.62).
The South African Allied Vorkers* Union (SAAVU)
has come in for more than lte shere of the lntlmldetion
and harassment of the security policw, both In the
Ciskei bentustan (see above) and the national security
police. During the first week of February the offices
of the union in Eest London were raided three times in
tec deys. The officlels present were told thet they
had no right to be In South Africa as they were
foreigners from the Ciekei. The need of the security
police in East London, Colonel *P >M> der mwrwe, said
thet the officee had Hot been 'raided' but thet they
hod been 'visited 1 , and that some documentation had
been removed. The union was using a disused church
hell a* offices, heving been evicted from their offices
in the city.
Two officials had been taken away by thw security
police for questioning. They were releesed two hours
later.
It is feared by trade unlonista thet enother tool
could be added to the Array of security mmesures thet
can already be, and is being used agalnat them. This
is the recommendation by the Reels Commission thet
'lntlmldetion' be declered a crime (this would prohibit
anybody 'from compelling or inducing another person
from doing any act or forcing, another to adopt or
abandon e certain viewpoint')* Anyone found guilty of
this 'crime' would be lleole to a R20 000 fine or
ten yeers imprisonment* or both. Picketing la et
present being 'dlecourmged' through the eppllcetlon
of the Riotous Assemblies Act.
The case in which 40 workers who hed been involved
in the strike et Rely Precision Casting are suing the
Minister of Police for R1 500 each, continued during
January and Februery. The workera allege thet they
were beaten up by the police. Thia cese will be
written up later. See 1IP21:59 for references
to previous coverege of the strike et the fire).
The Minister of Police eeld in reply to e queetion in
perliement thet e totel of 21 trade unlonista hed been
detelned in South Africe since the beginning of 1961.
Ten of these people, according to the Minister, had
benn released without cherge and the othmra were in
detention under the Terrorism Act (RDM, 26.02.8?).