Plus ça change? Mining in South Africa in the last 30 years – an overview

ABSTRACT

This article examines the history of South African mining over the last 30 years. It notes the declining contribution of mining to the economy, and a drop in employment levels and labour migration. It considers political, legislative and macro-economic changes, as well as mine ownership and control. It addresses the question why a democratically elected government, progressive labour legislation, trade-unionisation and Black Economic Empowerment have made remarkably little difference to working conditions. After examining the trajectories of individual commodities, such as gold, platinum, coal and diamonds, it concludes there has been no fundamental change in the relationship between state and capital.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article examine l’histoire de l’extraction minière sud-africaine ces 30 dernières années. Il constate la baisse de la contribution de l’extraction minière à l’économie, et la chute des niveaux d’emploi et de la migration de la main d’œuvre. Il examine les changements politiques, législatifs et macroéconomiques, ainsi que la propriété et le contrôle des sites miniers. Il se penche sur les raisons pour lesquelles un gouvernement démocratiquement élu, une législation du travail progressiste, la syndicalisation et l’émancipation économique des noirs (Black Economic Empowerment) ont peu changé les conditions de travail. Après avoir examiné les trajectoires des produits, tels que l’or, le platine, le charbon et les diamants, il conclut qu’aucun changement fondamental dans les relations entre l’État et le capital ne s’est produit.

KEYWORDS:

• South Africa
• mining
• African history

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Afrique du Sud
• extraction minière
• histoire africaine

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Hugh Macmillan is a historian who has written widely on the history of Southern Africa, including the Zambian Copperbelt and the ANC. He has taught at universities in Zambia, Swaziland and South Africa and is currently a research associate at the African Studies Centre, Oxford University. His most recent books are The Lusaka years: The ANC in exile in Zambia, 1963–90 (Jacana, 2013), Chris Hani (Jacana, 2014) and Jack Simons: teacher, scholar, comrade (Jacana, 2016).

Notes

1 Chamber of Mines of South Africa, annual reports, 1986 and 2012. Unless otherwise stated, statistics on mining employment, production, revenue and contribution to GDP are from the annual reports of the Chamber of Mines for the relevant year.

2 The earlier African Mine Workers Union, formed in 1941 under the leadership of J. B. Marks, was not legally recognised.

3 The latter figure may be an underestimate owing to the tendency for migrants to conceal their origins after the introduction of a levy to be paid by employers on foreign migrant workers, and the ease with which workers from neighbouring states, such as Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique, are able to pass as South African.

4 The living-out allowance is paid to mineworkers in lieu of accommodation and is intended to enable workers to build their own homes. In practice it is often used to supplement low wages by workers who live in shacks. By 2007 about one-third of workers on gold mines were receiving the living-out allowance, but the proportion on platinum mines was higher.

5 In September 2015, President Zuma, in what may have been a defensive move, told a press conference after opening the National Mining Consultative Forum for a Sustainable Mining Industry that 460 orders for non-compliance with the Mining Charter and 204 orders for non-compliance with environmental management plans had been issued by the Department of Mineral Resources (M. Creamer 2015b).

6 For confirmation of this, see Rehad Desai’s documentary film Miners Shot Down, 2014. See also Alexander et al. (2012).

7 For a variety of articles on platinum, see the ROAPE special issue (volume 42, no. 146), ‘White Gold: New Class and Community Struggles on the South African Platinum Belt’ (2015).

8 Statistics South Africa 2015, Figure 5.1 3a. ‘Production/extraction of coal and employment in the coal mining industry, 1995–2012.’ It is possible that productivity in 2003 was exaggerated through the under-counting of outsourced contract workers.