- Title: SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's miners struggle to live on low pay, analysts say
- Date: 12th September 2013
- Summary: MARIKANA MINE, RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) MINEWORKER SIMPHIWE BOOI, ARRIVING AT HIS HOME BOOI SITTING AND WATCHING TELEVISION WITH HIS SON (SOUNDBITE) (Xhosa) SIMPHIWE BOOI, MINEWORKER SAYING: "I think it's wrong because I am the one driving the production, but I hardly get anything in return, while the managers sit in the office and yet they are paid double." JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS SINGING AND CHANTING MORE OF PROTESTERS WITH PLACARDS PROTESTER CHANTING "DOWN WITH CRIMINALS, POWER TO THE PEOPLE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) GRACIOUS DIKO, ACTIVIST SAYING: "The mining within where I stay plays a crucial role in destroying minerals, actually we no longer have the fertile soil in which we are able to plant and to simply grow crops." VARIOUS OF ACID WATER (SOUNDBITE) (English) MDUDUZILE MBOKANE, ACTIVIST SAYING: "You may look at the water and see it is clear, but it's not clear. When you have to check the PH level of the water is below 2 and that means it's dangerous in terms of that." VARIOUS OF RUNNING STREAM LEAVES WITH ACIDIC DROPPINGS PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (SEPTEMBER 10, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR SIPHAMANDLA ZONDI, POLITICAL ANALYST SAYING: "Marikana was just one, an epitome of a bigger problem, it is not an isolated event, but it is a form of a brutal violence that was shown to the world by the physical act of violence that was seen, but the mining communities and mining workers and their families live with that brutal violence on a daily basis. It's not physical, but it's violence of alienation, it's the violence of marginalisation, it's the violence of poverty, it's the violence of generating billions for somebody and get peanuts for yourself" WITBANK, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) COAL MINE DUMP AND SHACKS VARIOUS OF SHACKS PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (SEPTEMBER 10, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR SIPHAMANDLA ZONDI, POLITICAL ANALYST SAYING; "South Africa needs to think again about what model it is going to use to run its economy. It needs to really think carefully about it's model of economy, so that it's a model that assures us economic prosperity, that we thrive, that business increases, that business multiplies, but then at the same time that social justice is protected and assured." MORE OF CORONATION INFORMAL SETTLEMENT CLOTHES ON A WASHING LINE
- Embargoed: 27th September 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: South Africa
- Country: South Africa
- Topics: Business,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA9B5MRBTVOSPISG9KGFDBCNZ9W
- Story Text: As South Africa's gold miners head back to work following a three day strike over pay, that hit production at most of South Africa's gold mines last week, many miners say they still suffer from poverty and pay disputes.
Experts say the end of the strike is a relief to Africa's largest economy, hit by strikes across a range of sectors including auto making, which have cost tens of millions of dollars a day in lost output lately.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been consulting its members on a revised offer from gold producers and the return to work showed some of its members have accepted terms of the new deal.
But for miners like 43 year-old rock drill operator, Simphiwe Booi the new deal does not bring much relief, as many mine workers like him still struggle to makemeet.
Despite Africa's largest economy devoting billions of dollars to infrastructure, housing, healthcare and education, income disparity and unemployment have mushroomed while chronic joblessness has helped entrench a massive underclass.
These circumstances, combined with ballooning living costs and a demand for better pay, led to the violent strike by Booi and his fellow mine workers at Marikana mine site, which saw police shooting 34 miners last year, killings that shocked South Africa and the world.
The base pay for miners is about $500 a month but when production bonuses and benefits are added the average miner grosses nearly double that, according to industry and government data.
But the money goes quickly. Most miners maintain two households, with one near the mine site and the other for extended families who live away from them. The average miner supports 8-10 people, according to industry data.
"It think it's wrong because I am the one driving the production, but I hardly get anything in return, while the managers sit in the office and yet they are paid double," he said.
Growing discontent about low wages has led to community based organisations raising awareness on work conditions, as well as the effects of mining on the environment.
At a recent mining conference in Johannesburg, the newly formed Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) called on the government to consider the demands and interests of affected communities as it reviewed mining legislation and policy changes.
The group has also been educating communities about the dangers and hazards of mining, after operations have been halted.
"The mining within where I stay plays a crucial role in destroying minerals, actually we no longer have the fertile soil in which we are able to plant and to simply grow crops," said activist Gracious Diko.
Here in the coal mining town of Witbank, residents complain of living in hazardous conditions, surrounded by sinkholes.
"You may look at the water and see it is clear, but it's not clear. When you have to check the PH level of the water is below 2 and that means it's dangerous in terms of that," said another activist, Mduduzile Mbokane.
South Africa's gold industry once accounted for nearly 80 percent of global bullion output, but has been in steady decline for years, battered by falling prices and the rising cost of extracting ore from the world's deepest mines. It now produces just 6 percent of the world's gold.
Some investors say exorbitant salary remuneration for mining companies executives has worsen the problem.
Not only is it out of touch with performance but threatens stability in one of the world's most unequal societies.
Experts say more lasting solutions are required to tackle deep rooted social problems that go back to South Africa's history as a mining power forged under the stark inequalities of the apartheid system of white minority rule, which ended 19 years ago.
"Marikana was just one, an epitome of a bigger problem, it is not an isolated event, but it is a form of a brutal violence that was shown to the world by the physical act of violence that was seen, but the mining communities and mining workers and their families live with that brutal violence on a daily basis. It's not physical, but it's violence of alienation, it's the violence of marginalisation, it's the violence of poverty, it's the violence of generating billions for somebody and get peanuts for yourself", said political analyst Siphamandla Zondi.
The average South African miner's monthly salary, including benefits, totalled 15,840 rand (US$1,500) at the end of last year, according to government statistics.
South Africa's wage gap in mining is also more pronounced than in some other countries.
Zondi added that if the country doesn't change its economic policies, discontent will lead to more social unrest.
"That South Africa need to think again about what model it is going to use to run it's economy, it needs to really think carefully about it's model of economy so that it's a model that assures us economic prosperity, that we thrive, that business increases, that business multiplies but then at the same time that social justice is protected and assured" added Zondi.
According to industry data, mining employment dropped by about 4 percent some four months after the Marikana killings, with analysts saying the violence accelerated a downward cycle.
While last year's Marikana strike was ended by a wage settlement awarding salary increases of up to 22 percent, this has not been matched by more productivity in the sector.
South African mine output dropped in June by 6.2 percent while production of platinum group metals fell by 18.9 percent. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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