“Mine wealth has been generated at the expense of the people.”
That’s according to Earthlife Africa volunteer and Soweto resident Mabule Mokhine.
“The history of mining in South Africa is a social injustice case,” he said. “Soweto, Kagiso, Randfontein, Springs — they are all migrant labour settlements. People were brought there to sleep and meet their basic needs and go to work and come back. To this day, Soweto is month to month.”
Now, as mines close, acid mine drainage (AMD) hits waterways and mine dust irritates South Africans’ lungs, the majority-black communities created for cheap labour are left to deal with a mess they did not create.
While white communities are also affected by AMD, few rely on polluted waterways for their agricultural, bathing and drinking water and many have the option to move should the problem persist.
Despite this, discussions surrounding AMD — as well as the research and the activism behind it — have been dominated and driven primarily by white, upper-middle-class activists, scientists and academics.
Why the discrepancy?
According to Israel Mosala, also from Earthlife, limited education matched with few resources and an already over-burdened life results in AMD being pushed to the backburner.
“When people are worried about HIV or TB or government grants, they don’t really think about AMD,” he said. While Mosala’s neighbours do talk about it, “they usually don’t take the next steps, because they don’t have the resources”.
But this doesn’t mean that people aren’t worried — they just don’t have an outlet to do anything about it.
Business owners near Soweto’s Diepkloof mine dumps are “interested in joining hands with me to educate people because they are concerned but they’ve never had people to talk to about this,” said Mosala. “They want people who can take action.”
This article made possible through funding from the Open Society Foundation for South Africa’s Media Fellowship Programme