Living conditions of mine workers from eight mines in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Poor living conditions are a consequence of the history of the South African mining industry (SAMI), despite legislation having been implemented to attempt to address this challenge. This paper describes the living conditions of mine workers from eight mines in South Africa in 2014, and assesses changes made over the previous decade. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected at three platinum, two gold, one coal, one diamond, and one manganese mine in 53 interviews with mine management, 11 interviews with labour representatives, 14 focus groups with mine workers, and 875 questionnaires completed by mine workers. The use of single-sex hostels and hostel room occupancy rates has reduced, while the use of living-out allowances (LOAs) has increased. Problems included the high proportions of informal accommodation; a lack of access to water, sanitation, and electricity; and poor roads. While improvements to the living conditions in the SAMI are evident, challenges still remain.

KEYWORDS:

• Housing
• South African mining industry
• hostels
• living-out allowances
• services and facilities

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Mine Health and Safety Council [project number SIM 130901] and the Young Researchers’ Establishment Fund [project number YREF 2014 024] for funding this study. We would like to thank the mines and each of the participants that were involved with the study for their input. We would also like to acknowledge Sophi Letsoalo and Siphe Ngobese, from the CSIR, and Yazini April, from the Human Sciences Research Council, for their roles as research assistants. Appreciation is also expressed to Sizwe Phakathi and Schu Schutte for acting as co-supervisors of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Jodi Pelders http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4671-1951

Gill Nelson http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7815-3718