Ruth First article on Coalbrook Catastrophe

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                           Ruth First

New Age February 4^th, 1960 (Ruth First)

As battle to save the 435 trapped miners is lost, the emphasis must shift towards compensation adequate and equitable compensation for the victims of criminally reckless mining practices of the mine corporations. Further, 700 killed in the mines in the year just prior to Coalbrook. SACTU led a campaign for compensation as well as a full public commission of inquiry into the causes of the disaster.

There was secrecy surrounding the disaster, both during the rescue and after. No commemoration barring a small meeting held in Greenside ostensibly by VESAMAFO, an informal labor broker working outside of formal TEBA structures. Security Police presence at the shaft head and compound ominous and intriguing. SACTU learnt that one of the issues was to prevent “desertion” especially of workers from Lesotho.

A thirteen months before the disaster there was a report of an inquiry into mining practices at Coalbrook North, following the introduction of the first mechanical continuous miner in a South African coal mine.    It made reference to heavy water ingressions into the underground workings, large falls of ground and general unstable roof conditions.