Striking miners massed at the Gold One mine in Springs on Tuesday, holding aloft sticks and singing songs, and calling for the leadership of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to join their ranks.
They sang "Sfuna uMathunjwa", [we want Joseph Mathunjwa, AMCU president] as more than 500 workers camped underground for nearly 48 hours.
The union said the action was a sit-in - but the mine owners, Gold One, and the rival National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) claimed they were being held hostage.