1946 Mine Workers Strike timeline 1867-1987

1867 Diamonds discovered in Orange Free State and Kimberley. 1867 Diamond mining begins in Griqualand West. 1872 Introduction of pass laws to control labor force in Kimberley diamond mines. 1873 Diamond diggers exceed 50,000 1886 Gold discovered at Witwatersrand; Johannesburg established. 1889 Cecil Rhodes already extremely wealthy from diamond mining, set his ambitions north of the Limpopo and tricked Lobengula, the King of the Ndebele into handing over his land. Ndebele thought he was granting Rhodes a limited mining concession. 1907 White miners strike against Chinese labor 1922 Army quells miners' strike, killing 214 1941 African workers formed the African Mine Workers Union 1943 In order to stave off the growing unrest among the African mine workers, the regime appointed a Commission of Enquiry 1946 They called a general strike. Nine men were killed, and seventy men were dismissed. The union was subsequently banned. The need for more cheap black labour after the Second World War led the South African government to look for migrant workers outside South Africa, mainly from Mozambique and Malawi. 1970 Anglo American became the biggest mining group in southern Africa. It had a high commercial profile, worldwide. Anglo American had a controlling interest in mines in Botswana and Zambia. 1987 250,000 African mineworkers strike