ANGUISHED shock gave way to angry recriminations yesterday after 15 train commuters were killed and more than 50 injured in a dawn stampede at Tembisa Station, about 50 km east of Johannesburg.
The disaster, described as a national tragedy by President, Nelson Mandela, was blamed on the use of electric prods on commuters by security guards.
The guards were hired by the" railway authorities to prevent commuters from boarding trains without tickets.
A spokesman for the emergency services, Mr Jannie Steyn, extrapolating from eyewitness reports, attributed the calamity to a collision between two sectors of the surging commuters: those in front trying to scramble away from the electrically charged batons, and those at the back attempting to push forward to board the train.
The railway authority, Metrorail, pointed an accusing finger at unidentified fare defaulters who, annoyed at the deployment of security guards from a private company, attempted to charge aboard the rush hour train.
These "free riding commuters" had developed the practice of waiting on top of the nearby footbridge until the train arrived and, then, storming down the stairs, past the access point, Metrorail said.
"The same charging action took place again (yesterday), with a group of singing and dancing" commuters shouting and pushing their way past the security personnel.
"In the process, a stampede occurred resulting in the death of 15 people," a Metrorail statement" said.
The statement did not address charges that the stampede was caused by security guards using electric prods - described by some observers as "cattle prods" - in a bid to prevent commuters from hitching a free ride to Johannesburg and its satellite towns.
One of the injured victims Mr Peter Molebane, described how she was hemmed in by frantically pushing people. "When I woke up I was under 13 men," he said. "They were all dead."
The incensed crowd later vented its anger on onlookers, including journalists.
Cars were stoned as angry youths went on the prowl in, search of petrol for firebombs.
Calling for calm, Mr Mandela pledged: "No stone will be left unturned to establish fully what, the causes were and where responsibility lies . . . Government, will take urgent steps to ensure, that such a disaster never occurs, again."
The Transport Minister Mr Mac Maharaj, yesterday appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the disaster.