- Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOREIGN MINISTER DENIES ECONOMIC CRISIS AS MINERS' STRIKE BEGINS.
- Date: 2nd September 1985
- Summary: DEELKRAAL: SEPTEMBER 2, 1985: ( REUTERS - JOHNSON-ROBINSON): AV Area of Deelkraal goldfield (2 shots) CU INTERIORS National Union of Mineworkers' leader Cyril Ramaphosa in helicopter looking down over gold mine (4 shots) SV Cyril Ramaphosa speaking (ENGLISH SOT) TRANSCRIPTS: RAMAPHOSA: (SEQ. THREE & FOUR): "We have got about 23,000 workers out on strike. It has not been ignored, even in those mines which were supposed to go on strike, the workers have had to go to work because they were intimidated. Had they not been intimidated they would not have gone to work. Now, the intensity of the intimidation during this year's strike is the type which we have never seen before. Management was well prepared. We had set the date well in advance. We made sure that our members are prepared. But it would appear that management was even more prepared than we were... But the mines which were not on the list, we found that management was least prepared, and that's why our members were able to go out on strike in large numbers....almost 17,000 workers on unrecognised mines went out on strike in those mines."
- Embargoed: 17th September 1985 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DEELKRAAL, ORANGE FREE STATE, EAST DREIFONTEIN AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
- City:
- Country: South Africa
- Topics: Economy,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8F51X8BXYIOZ7LSCC45N7KU50
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: As it became clear on September 2 that a miners' strike had failed to attract mass support, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) leader Cyril Ramaphosa accused management of intimidating workers. Ramaphosa acknowledged that only 6,000 of some 60,000 miners at pits marked for industrial action had obeyed the call but he pointed out that 17,000 workers in other pits had joined the strike in sympathy with the NUM's dispute with mineowners over wages. At Deelkraal less than one third of the 4,500 men due on shift turned up, although the mine was not marked for action. Some miners were seen leaving the pit with their belongings after reports of clashes between striking and working members of the workforce. At the Beatrix mine in Orange Free State, seven miners were reported injured after clashes with the security forces when tear gas and rubber bullets were used to disperse those gathered. The NUM has said that miners at the Beatrix pit were warned that they would be driven to work at gunpoint if they took part in sympathy action. The previous day, Finance Minister Barend du Plessis had denied that the South African economy was in a critical position. The minister said that the fundamentals of the economy were "in shape" and only the refusal of foreign banks to extend short-term loans had caused problems. On the same day, President P.W. Botha placed a four month freeze on repayments of foreign debt capital. Earlier in the day the Johannesburg stock exchange resumed trading after a three day closure called to halt the rapid decline of the rand on international markets.
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