Ghost towns spring up as miners shafted

180516. The closure of Kumba Iron Ore and Union mines in Thabazimbi has left the small Limpopo town with an uneasy silence as economic activity slows down and residents flee amid mass job losses. The town which was named mountain of steel or iron has been stripped of its glory, producing instead broken men who without jobs say there's very little to look forward to in life. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko

180516. The closure of Kumba Iron Ore and Union mines in Thabazimbi has left the small Limpopo town with an uneasy silence as economic activity slows down and residents flee amid mass job losses. The town which was named mountain of steel or iron has been stripped of its glory, producing instead broken men who without jobs say there's very little to look forward to in life. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko

Published May 27, 2016

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Thabazimbi - The mass job losses in the steel and mining industries have had a devastating ripple effect on mining towns, which depended largely on miners for consumer spend.

One such town is Thabazimbi in Limpopo, home to the more than 80-year-old Kumba Iron Ore Mine which shut down at the end of last year.

Affecting 1 160 workers and many others contracted to companies in business with the mine, the closure has stripped the town of nearly all economic activity. The retrenched miners have packed their belongings, leaving empty streets and houses.

The town is now occupied by an uneasy silence as those who remain contemplate the way forward.

Older men who had been nearing retirement at Kumba said they had found an unlikely source of hope during the crisis, but even that was hardly enough to give them peace.

“We are just grateful that we are going home while we are still alive after watching so many of our brothers leave for retirement, only to die when they get home. But we cry for the young people who still need jobs,” said 59-year-old Voster Seloba, who worked at Kumba for 38 years.

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He said that after giving his life to the mine, he would be returning to his home in Louis Trichardt, where he would spend the rest of his days with his family.

Seloba had enrolled in a welding course when the mine offered the retrenched workers training opportunities as part of a Department of Labour lay-off scheme. Thabazimbi was one of the few places where it took off.

The miners who live there said they were also unsure of what would remain of their town without the mine.

Thirty-eight-year-old Pule Mogoro had been working at the mine for only three years following a learnership in mineral processing.

He said it had become dangerous to walk in some parts of the town as there were barely any cars or people passing by.

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Mogoro is frustrated about the situation. He said he had been following the footsteps of other men in his family when he started working at the mine and now he would have to find a job elsewhere.

He feared that he, like many other miners who were the breadwinners, would be perceived as a weakling for failing to provide for his family.

“I want to do training courses and get other skills. I’ve realised that's the only way because now the only place I can work is in the mine, and mines are not hiring. But if an opportunity comes while I'm at the FET (Further Education and Training college), I'll leave it but I just have to do something,” Mogoro said.

Union leaders in the area said the workers, who were still employed at Amandelbult Platinum and Dishaba mines, were also frightened by the mass job losses and were approaching the future with caution.

“Even some of us who still have jobs don't feel confident enough to get a loan or commit to anything long term. We have seen what happens to the other workers where mines are closing,” said National Union of Mineworkers shop steward at Dishaba mine, Thapelo Qabathi.

Just like many other towns in a similar state, Thabazimbi is now also losing some of its shops. But what residents dread the most is the loss of the town’s mainstay: the iron mining which had earned it the name “Mountain of Steel” (or Thabazimbi in Setswana).

A disconcerting thought for many.

THE STAR

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