and 77 Labour Party and other organisations. African coal'. JON SILBERMAN reports. SOUTH African unions were represented by DISEKO of SACTU. Ine eyes oI people in South Africa are on unis confercace he said. 'The demand from within South Africa itself — it was reaffirmed by this year's. COSATU congress'.
ANC executive
member, FRANCIS MELI answered a question from a miner concerning the ANC's talks with Africaaner intellectuals. The statement they'd made in Dacca this summer nemed to weaked tre apartheid regime. Meli sala tal uness peopic fully understood what the ANC was doing they couldn't be expected to gave whole-carcu support.
Meli emphasised the close relation between the struggles in South Africa and Britain. 'By engaging in solidarity partheid you help t iberate yourselves' SWAPO 1cv1 coctically!
PANDULENI ITULA reminded conference to Tenemper me ourer sce of apartheid — IS neva colone recent miners strike in Namibia and the tremendous repression faced by the newly This conference, Itula predicted, would be very important, pointing to une successful campaign to win the release of Namibian trade union leader, Ben Uulenga.
ROSE KNIGHT, an NUR member, spoke of the coal boycott work done by her anti-apartheid group in Doncaster 'Last November we organised a demonstration jointly with the miners we marched past Gunners Wharf, an unregistered port where South African coal is coming in. The key thing is to be constantly mobilising out on the the streets'. FOUR HUNDRED and twenty-eight delegates crammed into Sheffield's City Hall last Saturday for a conference jointly organised by the NUM and the Anti-Apartheid Movement. The conference was called to organise action against the importing of South African coal, leading to its total banning. The list of conference participants included 103 delegates from NUM and Women Against Pit Closures organisations, 126 from other unions (including five national unions), 84 local anti-apartheid groups, 38 delegates representing 14 local authorities, One of those unable to attend was Cyril Rampaphosa, general secretary of the NUM of South Africa. Ramaphosa was denied a passport by the South African authorities. Pretoria said that in order to travel, Ramaphosa should apply for a passport from one of the designated 'homelands'. Doing so would not only have been against his principles, it would also have resulted in the miners leader becoming an alien in South Africa, unable to carry out his duties as the NUM general secretary. The conference condemned the travel ban imposed on Ramaphosa and adopted a '12-point programme of action against South 'National action needed' JIMMY NOLAN was at the conterence representing Liverpool dockers who recentiv refused to handle a caro or uraniun because it came from Namibia. He welcomed une conrerence and resolutions that had been coder by cir unions for sanctions. *Now we need some action on a national basis' he said. 'Deep crisis of SA coal' EXECUTIVE secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, MIKE TERRY said that the South African coal industry is in crisis'. He applauded the action campaign of the NUM, pointing out that 'the French government took CGT union federation refused to unload the coal *Shell may be the world's largest multinational company. But the people can speak and force even that companv out ot south Africa and Namibia' he said. 'Inspired by Winnie Mandela' representing Women Against ril Closures told the conference not power of women in this or any other struggle' She paid tribute to the large numbers of women from the mining communities present at the conterence.
The anti-apartheid struggle is special to coalfield women, she said. They had been inspired by South African Women like Winnie Mandela who had given her husband to the movement: and Ruth Mompati, forced into exile, who answered Thatcher's claim that sanctions would hurt the black majority with the words "how more hungry can my children e. and how much mor an my children suffer?
'Build for DOREEN WEPPLER, NUR, showed conference a copy of a union pamphlet reporting her and NUR executive member, Geoff Revel's recent trip to South Africa, during. the rail strike there.
'We learnt a great deal from the fighting spirit ot those people she said. Weppler is secretary of Rail Against Apartheid, a rank and file-based campaign in the rall industry supported by the NUR executive. She called on all delegates to build the forthcoming for sanctions on 24 and and ensure that trade union contiucells were as strong as possible.
SARAH GOFF, representing Nottingham AA, spoke of the 300-strong demonstraton in Worksop to protest South African coal the previous Saturday, 12 september.
Led by a banner which read 'British solidarity with South African miners', the march tollowed a labour movement conference earlier this year and has, said Goff, paved the way for a new AA group based on coalfield communities.
From the chair NUM general secretary, PETER HEATHFIELD, spoke of the importance of building on the conference to develop an action campaign. Heathfield said that we should be more than a *resolutionary movement.