4 - Ex-Mineworkers and New Skills: Contradictory Perspectives of Stakeholder*
Corresponding Author(s) : Siphelo Ngcwangu
African Sociological Review,
Vol. 24 No. 2 (2020): African Sociological Review
Abstract
* This research draws on a project which was supported by the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) who had contracted the Wits University REAL Centre to conduct research on a pilot project aimed at researching the challenges of finding alternative livelihood strategies for ex-mineworkers. The MQA has later expanded this project to a national level covering the various regions of mining activity in South Africa as well as labour sending areas. The pilot study was conducted in the Carletonville on the West of Johannesburg in the Gauteng Province of South Africa.
The issue of skills development is placed centrally as a means of empowering ex-mineworkers to pursue alternative careers and/or to pursue means of ‘self-employment’ targeting their local economies as a primary basis to pursue such opportunities. Ex-mineworkers face crucial challenges of economic survival upon exiting employment due to retrenchment and mine closures. This paper draws on twenty-two interviews with trade unionists, an employer association and ex-mineworkers based on their experiences of undergoing various programmes meant to train them for participation in various economic activities outside of the mining sector. The research was conducted in the Carletonville area on the West of Johannesburg in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, the workers had been employed at a Gold Mine, which had closed due to prevailing economic conditions. The research concentrates on those workers who participated in a project of skills training which was run by the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA). The findings show tensions among stakeholders in understanding the successes and failures of efforts of empowering the ex-mineworkers with new ‘portable skills’ such as bricklaying, carpentry, plumbing, painting and decorating and plastering and tilling proved inadequate to uplift them economically as the surrounding economy faced a general decline due to mine closures. The ex-mineworkers expressed concern for further employment opportunities within the sector or for training in areas that will provide economic opportunities for themselves and their families. The findings show that the optimism prevalent in South African developmental discourse on the role of skills development tends to overlook the ways in which structural conditions inform the availability of opportunities to employ the skills which people are empowered in. This aspect is not, however, a matter that has been routinely studied in the skills development literature and the paper thus calls for future research on the realities which confront ex-mineworkers.
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- Ackerman G, van der Waldt M and Botha,D.2018. Mitigating the socio-economic consequences of mine closure, The Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol. 118, April, pp. 439 - 447
- Allais, S. 2015. Livelihoods, Sustainability, and Skills. In Education and International Development: Practice, Policy and Research.London: Bloomsbury, pp. 237–256 Amsden, A. 2010. Say’s law, poverty persistence, and employment neglect. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal for People-Centred Development 11(1):57–66.
- Balwanz,D and Ngcwangu, S (2016) Seven problems with the ‘scarce skills’ discourse in South Africa, South African Journal of Higher
- Education, Vol 30, Issue 2, pp 31-52
- Buchanan,J.2019. ‘Skills planning for South Africa: Getting the questions right’ in Skills For The Future: New Research Perspectives, Kruss,G and Wildschut,A (eds), HSRC Press, Cape Town, pp 12-28
- Crankshaw, O. (1994). Race, Class and the Changing Division of Labour under Apartheid. Johannesburg: Wits University.
- Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) (2010). Revised Social and Labour Plan Guidelines , October 2010, Pretoria
- Hlatshwayo M.2013. Retrenched Workers Regenerate Resistance and Transcend the Workplace: A case study of former steelworkers near Johannesburg, LABOUR, Capital and Society, Vol.46, (1&2), 142-161
- Hlatshwayo, M.2014. Debating the Nexus of Education, Skills and Technology in the Age of Lean Production: A Case Study of the ArcelorMittal Vanderbijlpark Plant. In S. Vally & E. Motala (Eds.), Education Economy and Society, (pp. 125- 152). Pretoria: UNISA Press.
- Hlatshwayo M and Buhlungu S.2016. Work Reorganization and Technological Change:Limits of Trade Union Strategy and Action at Arcelormittal, Vanderbijlpark ciological Review, Vol. 20 (2), 125-152
- Jiboku, OJ and Akpan,W.2019.‘Skills Development in the Multinational Corporate Sector: Building Employee Capacity Beyond the Factory Gate’ African Sociological Review, Vol. 23 (2), 79-97
- Kruss,G and Wildschut,A.2019. ‘The need for new kinds of research’ in Skills For The Future: New Research Perspectives Kruss,G and Wildschut,A (eds), HSRC Press, Cape Town, pp 3-11
- McGrath, S. 1996. Learning to Work: Changing Discourses on South African Education and Training, 1976-1996 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.
- Mosoetsa S.2011. Eating from one Pot: the dynamics of survival in poor South African households, Johannesburg, Wits University Press
- Motala, E., & Vally, S. (2014). No One To Blame But Themselves. In S. Vally & E. Motala (Eds.), Education Economy and Society,UNISA Press, Pretoria, pp. 1-25
- Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA). (2018) Sector Skills Plan for the Mining and Minerals Sector: Update 2019-2020, pp 1-76
- National Training Board (NTB) & Nedlac.1995. South African Funding Mechanism Research. Industry Training-Supply and Competition Phase 1: Study 2 of 2. Pretoria: Coopers & Lybrand.
- Ngcwangu, S. 2014. Skills Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Issues , Arguments and Contestations. In S.Vally & E. Motala (Eds.), Education Economy and Society (pp. 244-265). Pretoria: Unisa Press.
- Ngcwangu,S.2016.A Sociological assessment of South Africa’s skills development regime: 1990-2008 (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Johannesburg
- Ngcwangu S.2019. Rethinking the skills question in South Africa, The Thinker: Pan African Quarterly for Thought Leaders, Vol 79, pp 28-31
- Ngononi XA. 2007. Anxious communities: the decline of mine migration in the Eastern Cape, Development Southern Africa, Vol.24, No 1, pp 173-180
- Philip,K.2005.‘Rural Enterprise: Work on the Margins’ In K. von Holdt & E. Webster (Eds.), Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, pp 361-386
- Statistics South Africa.2015. http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=4252/ decreasing importance of Gold Mining in South Africa (accessed 24 October 2019)
- Vally S and Motala E (2014). Education and Economy: Demystifying the Skills Discourse In
- Vally S and Motala E (Ed.), Education Economy and Society, Pretoria UNISA Press, pp.26-48.
- Winde F and Stoch EJ.2010.Threats and opportunities for post-closure development in dolomitic gold mining areas of the West Rand and Far West Rand (South Africa) – a hydraulic view Part 1: Mining Legacy and future threats, Water SA,No. 1, pp 69-74
References
Ackerman G, van der Waldt M and Botha,D.2018. Mitigating the socio-economic consequences of mine closure, The Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol. 118, April, pp. 439 - 447
Allais, S. 2015. Livelihoods, Sustainability, and Skills. In Education and International Development: Practice, Policy and Research.London: Bloomsbury, pp. 237–256 Amsden, A. 2010. Say’s law, poverty persistence, and employment neglect. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal for People-Centred Development 11(1):57–66.
Balwanz,D and Ngcwangu, S (2016) Seven problems with the ‘scarce skills’ discourse in South Africa, South African Journal of Higher
Education, Vol 30, Issue 2, pp 31-52
Buchanan,J.2019. ‘Skills planning for South Africa: Getting the questions right’ in Skills For The Future: New Research Perspectives, Kruss,G and Wildschut,A (eds), HSRC Press, Cape Town, pp 12-28
Crankshaw, O. (1994). Race, Class and the Changing Division of Labour under Apartheid. Johannesburg: Wits University.
Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) (2010). Revised Social and Labour Plan Guidelines , October 2010, Pretoria
Hlatshwayo M.2013. Retrenched Workers Regenerate Resistance and Transcend the Workplace: A case study of former steelworkers near Johannesburg, LABOUR, Capital and Society, Vol.46, (1&2), 142-161
Hlatshwayo, M.2014. Debating the Nexus of Education, Skills and Technology in the Age of Lean Production: A Case Study of the ArcelorMittal Vanderbijlpark Plant. In S. Vally & E. Motala (Eds.), Education Economy and Society, (pp. 125- 152). Pretoria: UNISA Press.
Hlatshwayo M and Buhlungu S.2016. Work Reorganization and Technological Change:Limits of Trade Union Strategy and Action at Arcelormittal, Vanderbijlpark ciological Review, Vol. 20 (2), 125-152
Jiboku, OJ and Akpan,W.2019.‘Skills Development in the Multinational Corporate Sector: Building Employee Capacity Beyond the Factory Gate’ African Sociological Review, Vol. 23 (2), 79-97
Kruss,G and Wildschut,A.2019. ‘The need for new kinds of research’ in Skills For The Future: New Research Perspectives Kruss,G and Wildschut,A (eds), HSRC Press, Cape Town, pp 3-11
McGrath, S. 1996. Learning to Work: Changing Discourses on South African Education and Training, 1976-1996 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.
Mosoetsa S.2011. Eating from one Pot: the dynamics of survival in poor South African households, Johannesburg, Wits University Press
Motala, E., & Vally, S. (2014). No One To Blame But Themselves. In S. Vally & E. Motala (Eds.), Education Economy and Society,UNISA Press, Pretoria, pp. 1-25
Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA). (2018) Sector Skills Plan for the Mining and Minerals Sector: Update 2019-2020, pp 1-76
National Training Board (NTB) & Nedlac.1995. South African Funding Mechanism Research. Industry Training-Supply and Competition Phase 1: Study 2 of 2. Pretoria: Coopers & Lybrand.
Ngcwangu, S. 2014. Skills Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Issues , Arguments and Contestations. In S.Vally & E. Motala (Eds.), Education Economy and Society (pp. 244-265). Pretoria: Unisa Press.
Ngcwangu,S.2016.A Sociological assessment of South Africa’s skills development regime: 1990-2008 (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Johannesburg
Ngcwangu S.2019. Rethinking the skills question in South Africa, The Thinker: Pan African Quarterly for Thought Leaders, Vol 79, pp 28-31
Ngononi XA. 2007. Anxious communities: the decline of mine migration in the Eastern Cape, Development Southern Africa, Vol.24, No 1, pp 173-180
Philip,K.2005.‘Rural Enterprise: Work on the Margins’ In K. von Holdt & E. Webster (Eds.), Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, pp 361-386
Statistics South Africa.2015. http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=4252/ decreasing importance of Gold Mining in South Africa (accessed 24 October 2019)
Vally S and Motala E (2014). Education and Economy: Demystifying the Skills Discourse In
Vally S and Motala E (Ed.), Education Economy and Society, Pretoria UNISA Press, pp.26-48.
Winde F and Stoch EJ.2010.Threats and opportunities for post-closure development in dolomitic gold mining areas of the West Rand and Far West Rand (South Africa) – a hydraulic view Part 1: Mining Legacy and future threats, Water SA,No. 1, pp 69-74