South Africa's Labor Empire: A History of Black Migrancy to the Gold Mines

Duin, Pieter Van; Crush, Jonathan; Jeeves, Alan H.; Yudelman, David

doi:10.2307/221215

Cited by 3 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Contributing to this rise and fall were a number of internal and external forces acting on the industry from the 1970s, resulting in changes in employment practice and patterns. These changes were commonly referred to as 'stabilisation', as they had the intention (and effect) of reducing labour turnover and recruitment uncertainties which had up that time characterised the migrant labour system [1,20]. Globally, there was a rapid and sustained increase in the dollar price of gold over the course of the 1970s, from US $36/ounce to US $613/ounce, after the United States abandoned the convertibility of the dollar into gold in 1971 [30].…”

Section: Change In Employment Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Globally, there was a rapid and sustained increase in the dollar price of gold over the course of the 1970s, from US $36/ounce to US $613/ounce, after the United States abandoned the convertibility of the dollar into gold in 1971 [30]. Regional factors included the occurrence of acute labour shortages following the withdrawal of workers from Malawi and restrictions on recruitment from Mozambique in 1976 after independence from Portugal was attained [1].…”

Section: Change In Employment Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In response to the threat of labour shortages, the mining industry embarked on rapid recruitment by escalating the engagement of novices from the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, for whom mining employment had become relatively more attractive as a result of the decline in manufacturing jobs [1]. This was accompanied by a significant rise in the wages of black miners, which had not risen in real terms for most of the century [31], and the acceptance by the industry of the practice of allowing black production workers to take up higher skilled jobs and to be trained accordingly [1]. A system of incentives in the form of contract security and special payments for returning to the same job, combined with penalties for failing to meet contract requirements, was used to retain migrant employees as 'career miners' [1].…”

Section: Change In Employment Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the beginning of the 20th century, a central feature of the South African gold mining industry has been a system of circular migrant labour between the rural areas of Southern Africa and the mines, to which workers were recruited from both South Africa and neighbouring countries [1][2][3][4]. This system was closely tied to the occupational colour bar, by which migrant black workers came to fill the large majority of underground labouring occupations, while supervisory, blasting, and skilled artisanal and technical jobs were mostly the reserve of white workers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This system was closely tied to the occupational colour bar, by which migrant black workers came to fill the large majority of underground labouring occupations, while supervisory, blasting, and skilled artisanal and technical jobs were mostly the reserve of white workers. The last elements of the colour bar, notably the restriction of blasting certificates to white miners, were only removed from statute in 1987 [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mining Migrant Worker Recruitment Policy and the Production of a Silicosis Epidemic in Late 20th-Century Southern Africa

Ehrlich

Barker

Montgomery

et al. 2023

Annals of Global Health

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Objectives: Between the 1980s and 2000s, an epidemic of silicosis was identified in migrant black gold miners, many from neighbouring countries, who had worked in the South African gold mines. This study uses the newly available employment database of a large gold mining company to demonstrate how a sustained rise in employment duration in a new cohort of black migrant workers resulted from changes in recruitment policy, and it examines the implications for current surveillance and redress.Methods: Contract data of 300,774 workers from the employment database of a multi-mine gold mining company were analysed for 1973-2018. Piecewise linear regression was applied to determine trends in cumulative employment, including South African versus cross-border miners. The proportions with cumulative employment of at least 10, 15, or 20 years, typical thresholds for chronic silicosis, were also calculated.Results: Five calendar phases were identified between 1973 and 2018. During the second phase, 1985-2013, mean cumulative duration of employment rose fivefold, from 4 to 20 years. Cumulative employment continued to rise, although more slowly, before peaking in 2014 at 23.5 years and falling thereafter to 20.1 years in 2018. Over most of the 1973-2018 period, miners from neighbouring countries had greater cumulative employment than South African miners. Overall, the proportion of miners exiting with at least 15 years of cumulative employment rose from 5% in 1988 to 75% in 2018. This report identifies a number of fundamental changes in labour recruitment policy in the gold mining industry in the 1970s which provide an explanation for the subsequent rise in cumulative exposure and associated silicosis risk.

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Section: Change In Employment Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Change In Employment Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Change In Employment Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Mining Migrant Worker Recruitment Policy and the Production of a Silicosis Epidemic in Late 20th-Century Southern Africa

Ehrlich

Barker

Montgomery

et al. 2023

Annals of Global Health

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Rustenburg's labour recruitment regime: shifts and new meanings

Forrest

2015

Review of African Political Economy

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In South Africa's democracy, the dismantling of the apartheid low-wage migrant labour system has been a stated goal of the state and trade unions. Through an investigation of the recruitment regime on the Rustenburg platinum belt, this article demonstrates how mine managements have responded to the goal of guaranteeing a continued supply of cheap and plentiful labour, how it has manipulated the unionised labour market, how it has ensured labour's consent in its project and how this has impacted on workers. Using Michael Burawoy's (1983) conceptual distinction between ‘despotic’ and ‘hegemonic’ labour regimes which embraces the idea of the politics of production, the article demonstrates how migrant labour recruitment patterns contain continuities, but have also fractured under the impact of neoliberal flexible labour patterns, the state's transformational laws which particularly impact on non-South African labour, and the local labour market characterised by deep structural unemployment. Workers have in some measure benefited from changed recruitment patterns, but for many it has rendered their position increasingly precarious and has simultaneously segmented the solidarity of labour, resulting in some segments of mine labour belonging to the new democratic dispensation more than others.

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African Perspectives on South–South Migration

Zeleke,

Smith

2024

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This book investigates the diverse and dynamic forms of migration within Africa. Centring themes of agency, resource flows, and transnational networks, the book examines the enduring appeal of the Global South as a place of origin, transit, and destination.Popular media, government pronouncements, and much of the global research discourse continue to be oriented towards migration from the Global South to the Global North, despite the fact that the vast majority of migration is South-South. This book moves beyond these mischaracterisations and instead distinctly focuses on the agency of African migrants and the creative strategies they employ while planning their routes within and across the African continent. Case studies explore the flow of resources such as people, money, skills, and knowledge throughout the continent, while also casting a light on the lived experiences of migrants as they negotiate their sometimes precarious and vulnerable positions. Underpinned by intensive empirical studies, this book challenges prevailing narratives and provides a new way of thinking about South-South Migration.Composed by a majority of scholars from the Global South, the book will be crucial reading for researchers, students, and policy makers with a focus on South-South Migration, Migration and Inequalities, Migration and Development, and Refugee and Humanitarian Studies.

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South Africa's Labor Empire: A History of Black Migrancy to the Gold Mines

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Mining Migrant Worker Recruitment Policy and the Production of a Silicosis Epidemic in Late 20th-Century Southern Africa

Mining Migrant Worker Recruitment Policy and the Production of a Silicosis Epidemic in Late 20th-Century Southern Africa

Rustenburg's labour recruitment regime: shifts and new meanings

African Perspectives on South–South Migration

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