Safety and health before and after Marikana: subcontracting, illegal mining and trade union rivalry in the South African mining industry

ABSTRACT

Mine and worker Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) remains crucial given the historically dismal record of fatalities and accidents in mining in South Africa. OHS also played a central role in the resurgence of trade unionism of black South African mineworkers in the 1980s. While the OHS literature has the workplace as its predominant focus, this article explores three factors relating to conditions external to and beyond mining production: subcontracting, illegal mining and inter-union rivalry. By drawing on empirical studies conducted over two decades, employing a range of research methodologies, the article shows how these factors impact negatively on the mechanisms regulating safety and occupational health. The article concludes that understanding the OHS environment cannot remain restricted to the underground mining workplace. Instead, it points to a broader conceptualisation of OHS and notes the implications for worker politics and progressive research practice.

RÉSUMÉ

Le programme OHS (« Occupational Health and Safety ») de santé et sécurité au travail des mineurs demeure crucial au vu du nombre historiquement lamentable de fatalités et d'accidents dans l'industrie minière en Afrique du Sud. OHS joue également un rôle central dans la résurgence du syndicalisme des mineurs sud-africains noirs dans les années 1980. Alors que la littérature OHS se concentre principalement sur le lieu de travail, cet article explore trois facteurs liés à des conditions extérieures et au-delà de la seule production minière : la sous-traitance, l'exploitation minière illégale, et la rivalité inter-syndicale. S'appuyant sur des études empiriques conduites sur plus de deux décennies, et en employant une pluralité de méthodologies de recherche, cet article montre comment ces facteurs affectent négativement les mécanismes régulant la sécurité et la santé au travail. Cet article conclut que la compréhension de l'environnement OHS ne peut être réduit au simple lieu de travail sous-terrain. Au contraire, il tend vers une conceptualisation plus élargie de l'OHS, et note les implications pour les politiques ouvrières et pour une pratique de recherche plus progressive.

KEYWORDS:

• Mining
• occupational health and safety
• subcontracting
• illegal mining
• union rivalry

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Exploitation minière
• santé et sécurité au travail
• sous-traitance
• exploitation minière illégale
• rivalité syndicale

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Paul Stewart recently joined the Sociology Department at the University of Zululand after having taught at the University of the Witwatersrand for 20 years. He has published locally and internationally on South African mining labour.

Andries Bezuidenhout teaches development studies at the University of Fort Hare. He holds a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he worked as senior researcher at the Society, Work and Development Institute. His most recent book is a volume titled Labour beyond Cosatu: mapping the rupture in South Africa's labour landscape (Wits University Press, 2017, co-edited with Malehoko Tshoaedi).

Christine Bischoff is the Deputy Director of the Wits City Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and is appointed as a Researcher in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.

Notes

1 The international literature tends to use the rubric Occupational Health and Safety (OHS).