Mining’s Oppressive History: The South African Story (Part 1: 1860-1930)

In the summer of 1867, a teenaged boy found a transparent stone on the banks of the Orange River.[1] This was South Africa’s first recorded diamond discovery, and it soon became apparent that there was no shortage of these most precious of rocks. Just under twenty years later, Western powers discovered gold in the Witwatersrand.[2] The mining sector had been born, and Britain, South Africa’s contemporary colonial overlord, reassessed its interest in this land.[3] What had hitherto been a peripheral part of the empire, which offered only geo-political and moderate agricultural advantages, suddenly became a very valuable economic asset.[4]

From the get-go, black diggers were largely prevented from gaining any significant advantage from these ‘discoveries’, as rules were designed to prevent them from acquiring digging permits.[5] Alluvial diamonds became scarcer, mines got deeper, and more capital was required to extract effectively. Capitalists, having the means to fund these costly endeavours, quickly obtained the lion’s share of the industry. The proceeds of South Africa’s tremendous mineral wealth became concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people as time passed. In the Transvaal, gold mining followed the same pattern.[6]

As this labour- and capital-intensive industry rapidly expanded, so too did the demand for a cheap, large and disposable workforce.[7] To the dismay of the freshly minted mining magnates, black South Africans largely chose not to subject themselves to harsh underground conditions for negligible reward. Instead, they preferred staying on their land and in their homes. However, at the turn of the 19^thcentury, a number of ecological, political and economic blows fell upon South Africa. Amongst others, new taxes were introduced, a number of tribal conflicts broke out, and cattle-disease epidemics crippled farming enterprises. The result was that the migrant workforce increased nearly tenfold in just under a decade. 

In 1899 the second South African War began, ushering in a time of marked privation in this country. Tactics like the scorched-earth policy meant that the war caused extensive environmental and social devastation. This brought about some change in the mining sector. Though skilled and managerial positions remained exclusively for whites, the war’s impact meant that other mining work became more attractive to all races.[8]

South Africa was by no means the only territory wracked by war in the early 1900s: the First World War lead to a global move away from luxury materials (like diamonds and gold), and towards resources which could support warring nations. By 1920, the price of gold had fallen dramatically.[9] In an attempt to minimise profit losses, the mining sector shifted its employment structure away from a white labour force that, by virtue of race, was afforded protections and rights denied to other South Africans.[10] Once again, the overriding desire for a cheap and replaceable workforce asserted itself, and the Chamber of Mines focused on ‘employing’ black labourers.[11]

In vicious objection, disaffected white workers rioted in 1922. This event, with more than 200 deaths and millions of pounds worth of damage, came to be known as the Rand Rebellion. The expense and downright violence of the Rebellion led to the passing of certain legislation (the Industrial Conciliation Act (1924); the Wage Act (1925); and the Mines and Works Act (1926)) designed to placate white workers. The upshot was that union protection and skilled positions were formally and exclusively reserved for whites, whilst black South Africans’ position as poorly paid, fungible labour became further entrenched.[12]

Since then, South Africa has fallen to apartheid and risen to democracy. Unfortunately, however, black members of the population, for the most part, remain unable to reap any advantage from the extraction of our mineral resources. Despite the fact that our current legislation governing mining proclaims that “South Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources belong to the nation”,[13] most of the nation sees very little benefit from this valuable belonging. But that is a tale for another day. For now, the mining sector fails to reflect the real wealth of our nation, which lies not beneath our feet, but in the people grown from our earth.

Written by Hannah Massyn.