Fight for the reopening of thousands of mines that are abandoned and under care and maintenance to abolish unemployment and poverty. The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA) President, Comrade Mametlwe Sebei, yesterday addressed the Limpopo Provincial Meeting of the National Convention of Mining Communities at Polokwane Royal Hotel in Polokwane, Limpopo and called for a campaign to re-open thousands of ownerless and abandoned mines and mines under care and maintenance to address the urgent crisis of unemployment that has led to the catastrophic situation in Stillfontein, and horrific levels of poverty and violence across the country.
Sebei highlighted that the horror of the hundreds of miners trapped underground and the murderous response of the state that has already led to the deaths of sons, husband’s and relatives is an outcome of a bigger emergency of mass unemployment amongst workers and communities in mining areas that means a choice between death by starvation or risking lives unstable, flooded and violent underworld of abandoned shafts.
He therefore called on communities, youth and workers to urgently mobilize for a campaign of mass protests and occupations to demand the reopening of derelict mines and mined under care and maintenance to create millions of jobs to end this cruel choice of death by starvation or death underground. He reported that in the response to his research on mine closures, Ministry of Mineral Resources reported that over 2000 of the 6100 abandoned ‘derelict and ownerless’ mines still have substantial mineral reserves that can be profitably mined. This is enough to create millions of jobs.
Mametlwe pointed that it is however not true that others can’t be mined also. The reality is that less than half of gold in the Witwatersrand Basin has been mined, and as the decision by Harmony Gold to invest billions of rands in Mponeng mine, the deepest mine in the world to extend its lifespan from 7 to 30 yrs shows, the question of whether the mine is viable or not is mostly an investment decision and not the lack of minerals per se. To the extend that there are those that are depleted, government should use tens of billions of rands held in trust for rehabilitation of these mines to ensure proper closure and repurposing of the land for other social uses including amusement parks illustrated by a shining example of Gold Reef, or housing, agriculture, etc, which equally require hundreds of thousands of labourers.
There are many mines also under Care and Maintenance including the Sibanye operations, kilometers away from the hotel, in Lebowakgomo and Groblersdal, which have been under Care and Maintenance since 1990s and 2011, respectively. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are frozen this way across the country by mining corporations hoarding minerals with impunity allowed by Government in the face of devastating levels of joblessness, poverty and hunger.
Cde Sebei lamented the extreme and ongoing inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth in the mining industry. He highlighted the stark contrast between the industry’s profits and its meager contributions to community development and worker wages.
According to the Mineral Council of South Africa, the industry produced minerals worth R1.1 trillion in 2023, with sales of R786.2 billion. However, only R186 billion was spent on wages, and a mere R4.9 billion on social investment and development initiatives. The industry paid approximately R160 billion in various taxes to the state. This is a clear indication of the industry is rigged in the interests of corporate profiteering over communities, workers and their needs.
Cde Sebei emphasized that the main problem is the private ownership and monopolization of the industry by foreign-owned corporations and white monopolies. He cited the example of 55% of mining profits being claimed by foreign-registered multinational companies and 41% by Anglo-American.
The industry’s brutal restructuring has resulted in job losses, with employment falling from 514,859 workers in 2019 to 454,283 in 2024, despite increased revenues. This is a clear example of profiteering at the expense of workers and communities.
Cde Sebei also highlighted the issue of illicit financial flows and trading, which is estimated to be significantly higher than the R7 billion attributed to Zama-Zamas. According to Oxfam, there was R296 billion in illicit financial flows in the Silver-Platinum mining sector and R108 billion in the Iron ore sector in 2016. This is illegal flows and mining of big mining corporations that account for vast proportion of $62 billions of illicit financial flows UN Convention on Trade and Development report this country to losing annually, under the watch of this same Government that is reveling at the mass cruel murder of poor black miners forced underground in Stilfontein by the impoverishment created by their own policies.
$62 billion which translate into over R1 trillion is a huge amount of money stolen by big companies and banks. These are monies hidden and stolen from workers during wage negotiations, public services through unpaid taxes and communities who are denied implementation of social and labour plans on account of fraudulent accounting and profit under reporting on local subsidiaries of these multinational companies.
The concentration of income, wealth, and power in the mining industry is a reflection of the unfavorable balance of power created by weak organization, coordination, and unity amongst mining communities and between communities and workers.
Cde Sebei emphasized the need for greater coordination and unity, and support for efforts towards this goal, including the mining convention process. He called for a common fighting program and political strategy to ensure redistribution of wealth in Favour of job creation, investment in community development, and public infrastructure.
Furthermore, Cde Sebei stressed the need to link the immediate struggles for mining justice and wealth redistribution with the struggle for nationalization of the mining industry under the democratic control and management of workers and communities. This, he argued, is the only way to ensure that the industry serves the needs of the people, rather than just profiteering corporations.
In conclusion, Cde Sebei emphasized the critical task of the National Mining Convention in ensuring that the legitimate expectations of mining-affected communities are raised and met. The Convention must reject the appalling levels of poverty and colonial plunder, and demand decent paying jobs for all, robust and diversified local economies that can survive mine closures and support sustainable post-mining communities, quality public services including adequate housing, electricity, water and sanitation, education, healthcare, roads, bridges, and reliable public transport. Further, he reiterated the urgency and danger of the present situation which requires a mass struggle of communities, youth, workers and other sections of the working class for the re-opening of mines and formalization of artisanal and small-
scale mining to address the job crisis that threatens to rip apart the fabric of working-class life. To build a powerful and unifying campaign the demands should speak to
- Government to nationalize, recapitalize and re-open all mines placed under care and maintenance and all of the approximately 2000 ownerless and abandoned mines that can still be mined under working class control
- Government to use the re-openings to drive large-scale job creation for workers and the host community and use of mining to create robust and diversified local economies
- Government must use the billions in rehabilitation to adequately rehabilitate all depleted mines, redevelop the land for other appropriate socially productive purposes (e.g. energy generation, amusement parks etc) and ensure both rehabilitation and redevelopment creates jobs
- Decriminalisation, formalisation and government support for artisanal and small-scale miners
- Nationalisation of all large-scale mines and mining companies under community and worker control
These are alternatives to the cruel policy of allowing miners to die underground today in Stilfontein and other sites occupied by an estimated hundred thousand other Zama-Zamas or forcing them and their families to perish slow pain death of hunger and starvation on the surface, staring at the mineral wealth lying below in the mines they dug and marveling at the wonders of the wealth thier labour created in the marvelous cities in which today they stand as outcasts, poor and hated by all those enjoying them.
In conclusion he emphasized his hope that the National Mining Convention, alongside other initiatives will be a turning point in the struggle for mining justice and a better life for all, organizing and coordination of communities to build working class and community power on the coalface of mining.