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Mining has played a key role in the growth of many towns in South Africa. This growth has been accompanied by a proliferation of informal settlements, by pressure to provide basic services and by institutional pressures in local government to support mining. Fragile municipal finance, changing social attributes, the pressures of shift-work on mineworkers, the impact on the physical environment and perceived new inequalities between mineworkers, contract workers and original inhabitants have further complicated matters. Mining growth has however also led to substantial local economic benefits to existing business and it has contributed to a mushrooming of new enterprises.
While the relationship between mining and economic development at the country level has received adequate attention in existing literature, less is known about the consequences of mining at the local level. This book investigates the local impacts of mining in South Africa, focusing on employment, inequality, housing, business development, worker well-being, governance, municipal finance, planning and the environment.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Mining and Community in South Africa will be of interest to scholars of South Africa, economic development, labour and industry, politics and planning.
List of contents
Part I
1. The background to the Postmasburg study
2. The literature on mining communities and mining growth and decline
3. Migration and mine labour in South Africa
Part II: Governance, planning, the environment and power
4. The Tsassamba Committee
5. Spatial planning for Postmasburg
6. Government, mining and community relations
7. Mining and municipal finance
8. Environmental legislation, mining and ecosystems
Part III: To own or to rent?
9. Mineworker housing
10. The Khumani approach to homeownership in Postmasburg
IV: Working and doing business
11. Work, wages and welfare in Postmasburg
12. Psychological well-being on the mine
13. Businesses in Postmasburg: Tshipe e lokile (‘iron is good’) – but what about business?
Part V: Conclusion
14. The way forward for Postmasburg
About the author
Lochner Marais is Professor in Development Studies at the Centre for Development Support, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Philippe Burger is Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Deidre van Rooyen is currently the Programme Director for Development Studies and a researcher in the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Summary
Mining has played a key role in the growth of many towns in South Africa. This growth has been accompanied by a proliferation of informal settlements, by pressure to provide basic services and by institutional pressures in local government to support mining. Fragile municipal finance, changing social attributes, the pressures of shift-work on mineworkers, the impact on the physical environment and perceived new inequalities between mineworkers, contract workers and original inhabitants have further complicated matters. Mining growth has however also led to substantial local economic benefits to existing business and it has contributed to a mushrooming of new enterprises.
While the relationship between mining and economic development at the country level has received adequate attention in existing literature, less is known about the consequences of mining at the local level. This book investigates the local impacts of mining in South Africa, focusing on employment, inequality, housing, business development, worker well-being, governance, municipal finance, planning and the environment.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Mining and Community in South Africa will be of interest to scholars of South Africa, economic development, labour and industry, politics and planning.
