On 16 June 1994, violent clashes at a South African gold mine led to the deaths of two miners. The narratives of the gold mine's management and mineworkers attributed the violence to ethnic rivalry between Xhosas and Zulus. In his book Violence in a time of liberation: murder and ethnicity at a South African gold mine, 1994 Donald Donham makes the argument that the violence at this gold mine in the East Rand region of Johannesburg was not in the main a consequence of ethnic clashes between Xhosas and Zulus, but rather the result of nationalist politics of the day, intertwined with gang violence and union rivalry. For Donham, the violence at the gold mine, which he calls by the pseudonym of Cinderella, only served to heighten the ethnic tensions between the Xhosas and the Zulus. However, ethnicity itself did not lie at the heart of the violent clashes of 16 June 1994. Donham challenges the ethnicity narrative by positing that the ‘ethnic violence’ label was deceptive because the AmaButho, a Xhosa-speaking regiment:
… did not attack because of ethnic hatred; but rather, it targeted the Inkatha core of the Zulus, who had wreaked havoc on black communities of the East Rand. But because the distinction between Inkatha and Zulus blurred in the eyes of the amabutho, in the end all Zulus became objects of attack. (186)
Donham's book also foregrounds the primacy of ethnicity in the history of South African mining discourse, a discourse which thus easily framed the violence of 16 June 1994 that rocked Cinderella gold mine as ethnic rivalry between Xhosas and Zulus. Donham narrates how the whites created commonly held stereotypes of the different ethnic groups within the mining fraternity. Thus, the white discourse surrounding the mining industry was replete with notions of black ethnicity. These ethnic stereotypes were peculiar not only to the mining discourse among whites, but even among black mineworkers who constructed generalisations of different ethnic groups and even ‘performed’ ethnicity by performing ethnic dances for the whites' entertainment during weekends. Donham therefore argues that it is hardly surprising that the conflict among black mineworkers at Cinderella gold mine was quickly ethnicised by both the white management of the mine and the NUM.
The final strand developed by Donham examines the prevalence of gang culture and violence in the history of South Africa's mining sector. Reference is made to mining gangs such as the Ninevites and the Russians, also known as ‘AmaRassea’, which were studied by the likes of Moodie and Ndatshe (1994). These gangs have been in existence in some of the South African mines since the first decade of the twentieth century. At the Cinderella mine, one such gang – the AmaButho regiment – appeared to be the most powerful gang and, according to Donham:
On Good Friday, the regiment may have attacked any Zulu worker they could find, but their primary target was the Inkatha core of fighters. In this, they were motivated not by ethnicity (they had no problem with the Zulus who retained their jobs) or solely by national politics (though the latter must have added a layer of incentive). They were concerned about their own ability to control the compound and its environs – and to be seen as doing so. (156)
Donham makes a compelling case, methodologically, by conducting a comprehensive ethnographic study of the Cinderella mine based on multiple sources including interviews, log records which captured the violent clashes of 16 June 1994, and also court records related to the case. The book's photographs add colour and bring to life the living and working conditions of the mineworkers at Cinderella gold mine. This enables the reader to visualise the conditions under which the violence of 16 June 1994 took place.
Donham argues that the violence at Cinderella gold mine was not an isolated event of mining violence in the 1990s in South Africa, but part of a mining culture that was prevalent in South African mines. This spectre of mining violence is exposed by Donham when he makes reference to other killings that took place on mines at East Driefontein, Leeudoorn and Northam. Just like the Cinderella conflict, the clashes that took place at these other mines were also rapidly ethnicised, developing into campaigns against the Zulus. One shortcoming of Donham's book is that he does not make a detailed comparison between the violence at Cinderella gold mine and the three West Rand mines that he fleetingly makes reference to. A more detailed comparison would have painted a more penetrating picture of violence in the South African mining sector and bolstered his argument about the ethnicisation of conflicts on the mines.
Donham's book is highly significant today, given the shocking and horrific scenes of violence that occurred at Marikana in South Africa's platinum belt in August 2012. Wanton killings at Marikana are still taking place, a year after the massacre of 34 striking miners by the South African Police Service. Thus, Donham's book is a timely reminder of the culture of violence that has for a long time bedevilled South Africa's famed mining sector.