The Informalisation of Work: Illegal & Informal Mining from

a Gender PerspectiveBy Janet Munakamwe

PhD Candidate, African Centre for Migration & Society

University of WitwatersrandFunded by the International Centre for Development & Decent Work (ICDD)

(Photos by Alexia Webster)

Introduction

The research examined the issue of cross-border migration, with particular reference to the working lives and career aspirations of women and men who are finding a livelihood by working informally in abandoned and closed mines in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Informal mining is rooted in the political economy of migration & mining and those at the bottom end of this practice are precarious locals and migrants struggling to make a living

N.B. It is important to point out that 'criminalisation' and ‘illegality’ here is based on the mineral which is mined - in this case gold and also space where operations take place.

An overview of the mining sector in SA

• Mining -significant contributor to SA economy

• 500 000 direct jobs and 800 000 indirect = 1.3 million jobs (Chamber of Mines 2014)

• Contributes 16% towards national GDP; 8.2 directly and rest through multiplier effects, e.g. Investments, export earnings, taxes, procurement etc(ibid)

• Approximately, 2 or more billion rands/ annum are lost to the national economy through illegal mining of which if decriminalised, the national economy would benefit (Akua & Ingrid, 2014)[large corporates involved at the upper end of the commodity chain]

• 70% of arrested illegal miners are illegal immigrants (CoM 2014)[bureacraticimmigration policies]

• Demographics: strong presence of women and children in IM; few men visible at the ‘plant’ as many go underground and usually work at night

Objectives

• The presentation attempts to provide an understanding of women engaging in informal mining; their livelihood strategies, experiences, associated dangers and challenges in their everyday working lives from a broader perspective of the sector.

• To understand why people would return to what became known as ‘ the bloody shaft’ in reference to those that died, knowing the dangers associated with it.

• To interrogate the law as the major barrier to formalisation of small-scale informal miners & and how it criminalises them

A criminal activity or livelihood strategy

• My study demonstrates that informal mining emerged mainly due to the following:

• a direct loss of formal employment in mining for thousands of both local & foreign workers;

• rising unemployment and poverty in South Africa; • a narrowing of formal channels of entry, stay and work in South Africa

for regional migrants; and finally a broader discourse of nationalism and xenophobia (Landau 2012).

• Together, these conditions shape the emergence and rise of informal mining as a survival strategy for the urban poor and migrants which is often poorly understood as a livelihood activity and instead criminalised and policed excessively.

Background

• 2011, forty miners died at an illegal mining shaft in the old mining town of Springs, east of Johannesburg.

• In 2013 a pregnant woman –Mary collapsed and suffered a miscarriage whilst running away from police

• In 2013, another nineteen miners died at an illegal shaft ZM. A “volcano” errupted at ZM and the bodies were ‘cooked’ and charred beyond recognition. The mine was later sealed with the dead bodies inside.

• In February of 2014, twenty five illegal miners died at Mag shaft in Roodeport, west of Johannesburg. Their colleagues volunteered to retrieve the bodies from underground to ensure a dignified burial for the dead miners. One cross-border woman was among those who died

Methodology

Ethnographic in nature, including direct observations and in-depth interviews with participants and key players in the illegal gold mining value chain.

Ethnography (observations and shadowing since 2013 [see www.miworc.org.za]

12 Key informant interviews (union, Business, buyers) + 40 in-depth interviews with participants

Research site: Durban Deep, Braamfischer, Westrand, Johannesburg

Theoretical Framework

Informal economy –

• define informal mining as part of the informal economy which according to Chen (2002: 4) consists of “all forms of ‘informal employment’—that is, unregulated employment without labour or social protection—both inside and outside informal enter- prises, including both self-employment in small unregistered enterprises and wage employment in unprotected jobs”.

• the synergy between the informal and formal (structuralist perspective -Caroline Moser; Alexandra Portes and Castells, in the late 1970s and 1980s)

• My findings show that Chen’s definition more appropriately characterize this sector

Social Closure (Max Weber) – which refers to the processes by which the access of certain social groups to various resources is granted or refused [ in this study, this refers to the exclusion and criminalisation of the poor at the expense of big businesses]

Challenges & Experiences of Women in ASM• Police Brutality & ‘police robbery’• Human trafficking and sometimes “forced marriages”• Underground forced labour or slavery • Taboos & beliefs associated with women going underground • Health and safety issues• Reproductive health problems [e.g miscariages,still birth]• No workplace child care facilities• Gender division of labour/problems and diseases• Violence e.g. turf wars, rape (underground)• Mine accidents, closures and fines

Potential Benefits

• Female breadwinners – (earn at least ZAR 100/ day or more (mutaka) meaning sand tribute

• Women to some extent have become assertive & in control of their lives in particular cross-border migrants

• Easy to enter unlike in the formal sector

• While dangerous, women can still take their babies and toddlers to their workplaces

• Intuitive skills earning and transfer

Opportunities to promote gender –responsive policy & practice in mining• Generally, there is no clear policy or legislation to deal with informal

mining in SA (see Precious Minerals Act of 1927)• The DMR has established a Directorate of Small-Scale Mining to

regulate the sector but with little progress • Need to revisit the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act

(MPRDA) of 2002 – to incorporate IM• The 2004 Mining Charter - lack of progress in redressing the historical

inequality and exclusion, due to a lack of clear targets and oversight mechanisms

• Favourable policies which translate IM into artisanal mining like what has occured in Zimbabwe, Tanzania & Ghana could be developed partly to create jobs and alleviate poverty including decriminalisation

Best Practice Models

The cases of

• Ghana (see Debra et al)

• Zimbabwe & Tanzania (see Zvarivadza 2014)

Possible initiatives

• The law poses as a major barrier and exposes miners in particular women working in the sector to human rights abuses in the hands of law enforcers

• Depth of SA mines in relation to ASM –any possibilities?

• Need for a further regional collaborative research to investigate possibilities of translating the ‘criminalised’ informal mining in South Africa into artisanal mining. Parallels can be drawn from other countries based on empirical evidence

• N.B. Artisanal mining involving (not so valuable) minerals like sand, clay – already taking place in South Africa.

Conclusion

• Key players in the mining industry to explore ways in which a vibrant & small-scale mining industry could be stablished in SA based on the number of abandoned mines (formalisation)

• If formalised, workers like Maria, working under precarious conditions will be protected

• ASM proves to benefit the majority other than big business only

• Macro-economic policies need to respond to people’s daily needs and at the same time, stimulate job creation [big business more focused on financialisation and cutting down employment opprtunities]

• The formal sector could harness the elementary technical skills acquired through the IM sector

THANK YOU