Colonialism criminalised economic activities of Africans to reduce them to servants. While government has adopted policies to address the legacy of apartheid, a pillar of the National Development Plan, it appears barriers to entry into mining remain high. If poverty's the main driver of the "zama-zamas", the deployment of police may not be enough to address a problem of injustice
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Mmabatho Ramompi
The tragic events at Langlaagte have raised the levels of the dangers posed by the illegal mining of the closed, derelict and ownerless mines in our country.
Democracy ushered in policies aimed at alleviating poverty, growing the economy, decreasing the budget deficit and creating socio-economic empowerment opportunities for historically disadvantaged citizens.
The most successful areas of the government’s implementation of its pro-poor policies have been effected in the health-care, housing and education sectors.
So South Africa is an attractive destination for many Africans.
On the downside, there are many immigrants entering our borders in search of employment. This has rendered the government’s social security system inadequate.
All sectors are concerned about the so-called jobless growth.
Illegal mining in South Africa is conducted mostly by illegal immigrants who extract gold for larger international syndicates. Seventy percent of all arrested illegal miners are illegal immigrants.
Illegal mining is not a direct response to South Africa’s socio-economic challenges.
It has been described by the Chamber of Mines as being made up of the following five layers: illegal migrants who do the dangerous digging; buyers who are connected to the illegal miners and who provide food, security, equipment and weapons to them; organisations with permits to trade gold issued in terms of the Precious Metals Act who buy the gold from the illegal miners; entities who act as proxies and legally distribute the gold nationally and internationally; and internal buyers and refineries that make profits from illicit gold.
The existence of illegal miners in communities brings with it criminal activities including gun-related violence, child labour, prostitution and human trafficking with most illegal immigrants having been illegally and forcefully brought into South Africa.
It is therefore inappropriate to assume that illegal mining is a direct result of the government’s failure to provide opportunities for those who were marginalised under apartheid and more fitting to describe it as a global criminal network.
Often closed mines are reopened by illegal miners as instructed by their bosses. Gang violence, among different illegal mining groups, is rife.
But the government has not been folding its arms. In place is a National Co-ordinating Strategic Management Team comprised of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), the SAPS, the European police, the UN’s Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute and Interpol.
The complexity of illegal mining makes it difficult for the government to manage because its resources are limited.
To deal with this scourge requires attention be paid to strengthening immigration and border controls.
The DMR estimates there are about 14 000 illegal miners with 80 percent of these comprised of illegal immigrants from Mozambique, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
There is also evidence that a lot of ex-mine workers with a good knowledge of gold extraction and processing are involved in illegal mining.
It is estimated that R6 billion is spent annually by the state to deal with the damage emanating from illegal mining.
Furthermore, it is known that legal miners are also involved as they give illegal miners access to operating mines and provide food and protection to these illegal miners.
In some cases, legal miners steal gold from their employers and sell it on the black market or by working illegal longer shifts without their employers’ knowledge.
The loss of state revenue as a result of illegal mining limits the government in funding its socio-economic development projects.
The SAPS and DMR officials have met various challenges dealing with illegal mining.
These include violent attacks from heavily armed illegal miners and the ongoing reopening of sealed holes by illegal miners.
In Gauteng, where most illegal mining activities are taking place, a Gauteng Illegal Mining Forum has been established aimed at information sharing to combat illegal mining activities and its impact on society.
This forum also assists with the sealing of holes and shafts that have been reopened by illegal miners, the increase of security in old mining areas and the identification of legal miners who work or support illegal miners.
This civil society initiative should be supported by all concerned and replicated throughout the country to stem this unwelcome development.
From the above, we can conclude that illegal mining is an international activity driven by well-resourced crime kingpins.
To relate the existence of illegal mining with South Africa’s socio-economic challenges fails to locate illegal mining as part of international criminal activities.
On the contrary, the socio-economic improvements of post-apartheid South Africa are the attractive elements of our democracy.
We may also argue that South Africa may be becoming a victim of its own success.
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Rendani Ralinala
South Africa has witnessed a spate of deaths and injuries from illegal mining. At the forefront of this are the zama zamas.
The zama zamas mostly comprise former mine workers retrenched due to the declining demand in mineral commodities which has exerted unmanageable pressure on the mining houses to cut costs and, to some extent, abandon operations.
The lay-offs that followed especially in areas such as Joburg, Rustenburg, Steelpoort, Emalahleni, Burgersfort and others have triggered massive unemployment.
The majority originate from neighbouring African states, preferring to continue their lives in South Africa irrespective of existing limitations in employment.
From their lenses, no option exists in relocating to their countries of birth since they are well vested with the dire economic situation facing their fellow countrymen.
On the other hand, some of the zama zamas are South Africans who prefer to deal with their livelihood challenges by embarking on illegal mining.
This begs the question as to why these people have opted for such dangerous methods of survival and whether Africans in general have maximised access to mining as an economic means of survival under the current regulatory dispensation.
Africans have a long-standing history in mining. Apart from the discovery of Gold in Mapungubwe – where, before 1011, the kingdom traded as far as the East African coast in areas such as Kilwa Kisiwani and Rhapta – Africans mined iron ore, copper and other commodities before white intrusion in their territories.
The introduction of white capital underpinned by land dispossession disorganised the existing African economic matrix with the sole purpose of promoting a system of unfair capital accumulation based on race and class.
The discovery of alluvial gold in the 1800s in Joburg not only fuelled the reinforcement of white capital monopoly, it also triggered the need for labour reproduction which led to the constant migration of Africans from rural areas and neighbouring countries to the mining towns.
This massive movement, which some scholars chose to phrase as the initial phase of urbanisation, amplified the African interest in mining.
And as the mineworkers spent most of their time underground, on meagre wages and subjected to draconian treatment, they learnt to survive.
Now we see how some of those survivors, the zama zamas, have gained ground.
Word has even spread beyond our borders, and other Africans have migrated here to explore this opportunity.
Many have, however, become victims of rock falls, gang fights and malnutrition. Many have died.
The examination of the zama zamas exposes the lack of an exit strategy by the mining houses, which could have involved the mineworkers and the surrounding communities. Some mining bosses left without looking back.
Almost every year, South Africa hosts the Mining Indaba in Cape Town. It brings together the government, captains of the mining sector, the mining houses and others participating at a high level in the mining space, but not a single session looks at how to integrate the zama zamas.
There is an urgent need to dive into the regulatory framework to examine its competency in destroying the existing economic hegemony based on racial and class exclusion.
The basic requirements to operate in the mining space are a sequence of licences.
First there’s the Prospecting Right which must be issued by the Department of Minerals, followed by a Mining Permit. There is also a need for a water-use licence and a retention permit. Not to mention an environmental impact assessment, which is a pre-requisite. This bucket of licences is costly; there is no way a zama zama could afford them.
Over-regulation in the mining space is, in a way, condoning the principles of economic protectionism which have proven a failure in many parts of the world. A social and labour plan is always ignored.
Meanwhile, start-up capital to set up and operate a mine is prohibitive. And the dominance of economic calculation – solely based on monetary magnitudes – has now further complicated access to the natural wealth which the indigenous people of Africa once relied on.
How will a zama zama penetrate this space if both the government and mining houses marginalise them from the industry? The only possibility is to pirate, irrespective of the life-threatening risks.
First, a caring state and private sector would surely – and must – devise models and measurements to help zama zamas deal with their major challenge: poverty.
A lack of resources with which to attain a socially acceptable quality of life should become the common enemy of society.
Perhaps it is time for the country to recognise the skills that the zama zamas have and build from there.
Without a doubt, some of them can be mobilised and many of them are still capable of playing a necessary, vital and productive role – even in rescue missions.
But the dream would be far better if they could be properly incorporated into beneficiation co-operatives.
* Mmabatho Ramompi is chief director of marketing and communication in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
* Dr Rendani Moses Ralinala is the chairperson of Barleda Consulting