1922 Strike

In Fordsburg, passersby hurry through a nondescript market square bordered by Albertina Sisulu, Dolly Radebe, Mint and Central Roads, quite unaware it marks the final stronghold of armed strikers during the 1922 Rand Revolt.

Known as the 1922 Miners’ Strike, Rand Revolt or even Red Revolt, occurring merely five years after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, it remains the greatest violent political upheaval on the Witwatersrand (Rand).

Although the Rand has changed almost beyond recognition, many of the historical sites exist, to provide a glimpse of that seismic event. Some of these sites will be disclosed in a future article.

Accounts vary, but the Report of the Martial Law Inquiry Judicial Committee reported the fatalities of the strike and subsequent armed revolt to comprise 43 soldiers, 29 policemen, 11 revolutionaries, 28 suspected revolutionaries and 42 civilians.

A further 133 soldiers, 86 policemen, 45 revolutionaries, 73 suspected revolutionaries and 197 civilians were wounded.

After the revolt was quelled, 4 692 men, 62 women and 4 children were detained for questioning. Eight hundred and fifty-three people, including 9 women were charged with various contraventions, from murder and treason to minor infringements of the martial law regulations.

Ten unions established the Transvaal Strike Legal Defence Committee, to raise funds for legal representation to those appearing in court. Forty-six people were charged with murder and 18 were sentenced to death. Only four namely, C. C Stassen, S. A. (Taffy) Long, Herbert K. Hull and David Lewis were executed between 5 October and 17 November...

A friend who grew up in Germiston claimed at his recent birthday bash that while you could leave Germiston, it would never leave you. His words mulled through my mind as I arrived at the Primrose Cemetery. Visiting a historic cemetery like Primrose is similar to visiting an interesting museum. Instead of viewing artifacts one sees the tombstones of people who participated in events that may have shaped one’s life in one way or another. One also starts better interpreting the tombstone symbols and appraising the epitaphs. 

A typical Victorian and Edwardian tombstone symbol - hand of deceased trustingly placed in God’s protective hand (SJ de Klerk)

The most touching epitaph I have read was on the obelisk commemorating Lady Sale who died in 1853. She was the wife of Sir Robert Sale who conquered Afghanistan in 1839. Lady Sale died only three days after landing in Cape Town, while travelling from India and was buried in the old Somerset Road Cemetery. Her obelisk was made...

Perhaps you recall the 1980s advert, ‘Where did you have your first Campari? – in Benoni.’ That was well before Charlize Theron made Benoni famous.

Well, you do not have to be a taphophile (someone who takes an interest in cemeteries and tombstones) or require a taste for Campari to visit the Rynsoord Benoni Cemetery.

If you are interested in the 1913 Mineworkers Strike, the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic, the 1922 Rand Revolt, the Crimean War or even the Mapungubwe Heritage Site, then the Rynsoord Cemetery is for you.

This Cemetery, on Main Reef Road (R29) is still active, but its oldest precincts contain many interesting and historical graves, all relating to the above events.

When you enter the cemetery driveway, travel towards the cemetery offices where the lych-gate is situated (main image). The lych-gate built in the Arts and Craft style is worthy of preservation. The lower walls are of dressed stone and the internal wooden trusses are most attractive. Originally, this structure probably served as a covered area to the burial ground where the coffin would have been placed on a pedestal prior to the burial service.

The older precincts (Wesleyan, English & Methodist and Dutch Reformed Sections 1 & 2) are situated west and south west of the lych-gate.

In the Wesleyan precinct, next to the covered parking lot for cemetery staff, is the grave of the very first internment in this cemetery, namely that of Norew Sunney, a Marine Engineer formerly of Doncaster England, who died on...

In the article below, journalist Lucille Davie tells the story of Taffy Long who was executed for a murder that took place during the 1922 Rand Revolt. The piece was originally published on the City of Johannesburg's website on 5 July 2002. Click here to view more of Davie's work. The image above shows Fordsburg Market Square during the Revolt.

One of South Africa’s biggest funeral processions – 10 000 people – was held in the 1920s for a man widely believed to be innocent, hanged by the government of General Jan Smuts.
 
The man was 31-year-old Samuel Alfred Long, nicknamed Taffy, who, after two trials, was found guilty of murdering Pieter Marais during an uprising in Johannesburg that saw the city at war with its citizens, in the 1922 Miners’ Strike. The hanging took place in November 1922, and the 10 000 people marched to Brixton Cemetery where Taffy was buried.

Old photo of Taffy Long

 
Taffy came to symbolise the workers’ unhappiness with the mine owners at the way they handled a drop in the price of gold in 1921 – by dropping wages and employing more black miners at cheaper wages.
 
Many thought Taffy was innocent, but in the tensions of the time he was an Englishman who had allegedly killed an Afrikaner. The irony was that the Afrikaans government of Smuts was also killing Afrikaners, siding against them...

1922 is often seen as the year that South Africa teetered on the brink of civil war. Fighting broke out across the Rand following a dispute between mine owners and workers. The crisis only ended after martial law was declared and bombs fell from the sky. If you are ever looking for something to do on a Saturday afternoon why not take a drive and recreate a few of the scenes from this turbulent time. The following driving tour was created by the team from the Johannesburg Historical Foundation (now defunct) in the 1990s. It was published in the wonderful booklet Some Historic Drives & Walks of Johannesburg.

The 1922 Strike, or Red Revolt as it was also called, came about due to a dispute between the Chamber of Mines and the coal miners. The basic cause of the strike was the determination of the mine owners to exploit the colour bar by including non-whites in any skilled work in the mines at lower rates of pay than that earned by whites. In December 1921 the coal mining companies proposed a cut of five shillings per day in white wages and the Chamber of Mines said the agreement concerning “piece” and “underground contract” work would lapse at the end of 1922 and be replaced by a “day’s pay”. It was alleged that the aim was to replace 50% of the white miners at a saving of R1000.

The Chamber of Mines said it proposed to remove the colour-bar status quo and...