North West - Below the ground, a female miner lay in a pool of blood, dead and possibly raped. A bloodstained rock and a lunch box were found next to her battered body.
Now, more than a year later, no one has been arrested for Pinky Mosiane’s murder.
North West police said they were still awaiting forensic results to determine whether the 35-year-old was raped.
She was killed at Amplats’s Khomanani mine in Rustenburg, where she worked as a sorter on a conveyor belt, on February 6 last year.
Asked whether they had dealt with other attacks or rapes on women underground, the police said no others had been reported.
This story seeks not to suggest that Mosiane was raped, but focuses on underground sexual activities. The Star visited mines around Rustenburg and asked the question: Is there sex taking place underground? Almost all the men said yes, while female workers preferred not to comment.
Former miner Tuswell Kgosi said sex was taking place daily in many forms underground.
“I don’t think it will be easy for a woman to be raped underground, but women are forced by circumstances rather to have sex with men they wouldn’t normally sleep with out of choice.
“Underground sex is more of a transaction which involves sex but doesn’t always involve money,” Kgosi said.
“Fact is, people are having sex underground on a daily basis – from discreet sex to sexual favours for men who perform tasks for those women.
“It will never end because women are underground, but they’re still not able to perform most of the tasks and have to rely on their male colleagues who prefer sexual favours.”
Kgosi said used condoms often found in disused hallways and dark corners were evidence that sex was rife in the mines.
An industrial sociology masters degree thesis by Wits University student Asanda Benya shed some light on this. Benya spent some time at Impala Platinum mines in Rustenburg, working underground, as part of her research in 2009.
Part of her paper, titled “Women in mining: A challenge to occupational culture in mines”, focused on sex underground.
Kgosi said some underground jobs were still too heavy and not easy for women. “Some jobs like winch operator are a challenge for women, especially when the thick cable of a scraper snaps, as an operator has to fix it. This is where they need a male colleague to assist, and it takes a favour for this to be done,” he said.
“Some women are, however, plain lazy and prefer hanging around men to get them to do their job, then thank them later in kind because they can’t say to their supervisors that any job is too heavy for them. They need those jobs for survival.
“Some have sex with male colleagues for money because they need to supplement their salary, which is more like prostitution where two colleagues negotiate a transaction.”
In her paper, Benya said women were using their “femininity to cope with their work and obtain favours from men”, and that occasionally “women do sexual favours for men in exchange for help”.
Those interviewed told Benya that generally “shift bosses and miners sleep with women and in return lessen their workload”.
Benya also emphasised that “sexual favours are very common underground”.
“Mine management argues that having strict sex rules does not help because workers are adults and are free to do what they want, especially outside of work. Women therefore use sex and sexuality as another coping mechanism in the workplace,” Benya wrote.
A female senior geologist at Lonmin platinum mine, Caroline Mulaudzi, believes that much has changed in mining as the industry is becoming more accommodating to women.
She remembers having to use the toilet on the surface before descending into the mine when she started working about nine years ago as she would not use the filthy ablution facilities underground.
“Now there are cleaner, gender-dedicated ablution facilities. Things are changing and the underground is not as uncomfortable and maybe unwelcoming to women as it used to be,” Mulaudzi said.
Although she is now at managerial level, she could not dispute that sex was taking place underground, but raised her concerns.
“These people are adults and I just hope they are being responsible because HIV/Aids is a serious concern. If indeed women are rewarding men with sex for doing their jobs, then this will hamper their growth in mining,” she said.
“I believe as women we need to stand up and prove that no job is gender specific. Mining companies are big on woman empowerment, and they should take advantage of this and enhance their mining careers.”
The Star