The Effects Of South Africa’S ‘Mineral Revolution’ On The Working-Class People Of Johannesburg In The Late 19Th And Early 20Th Centuries

Minerals are inorganic substances that occur in nature and likely to be found in rocks underground. South Africa experienced industrialisation due to mineral revolution which was influenced by the major discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand, Transvaal around 1886. However, this industrialisation had an impact to the people of the Rand. This essay will discuss the impact that mineral revolution had to the working-class people of Johannesburg in the Witwatersrand gold mining industry around the late 19th and 20th centuries. In the context of this discussion, the working class is referred to mine workers and those who made an income relative to the mining industry (non-mineworkers).

South African land turned into a field of treasury due to its mineral discoveries and gave rise to conflict for land ownership between Afrikaners and Britain statesmen. According to William, political debates arose such as “who got there first, who invaded whose land, who ignored whose rights, to whom did the resources and wealth of the country belong to?”. The battle resulted a great loss in the lives of Afrikaners and a huge negative impact to their families. British generals made it possible by burning their farmhouses and relocate them to a place where mortality was high due to high disease concentration in that area. About 28000 Boers lost their lives around 1899. Black people were trapped between the two forces as their farms were used as ground of battles for war. The war led to poor supply of labour which forced them to increase their profit by mining lower grade ore which required unskilled workers. Cheap black workers were hired because of being desperate for income and the imbalance between black and white workers.

Witwatersrand was one of the top gold producer in the world thus it attracted people from neighbouring countries to migrate for employment. People from countries such as Lesotho, Botswana and Mozambique came to find employment in the Transvaal mines. The gold mining industry employed majority of black mine workers. However, wage increment became a factor that influenced the supply of migrant labour in South Africa. One example is when Mozambicans were attracted back to South Africa in 1903 by an increase to 45 shillings, compared to when they left by the time wages decreased to 35 shillings. Furthermore, the minority report was evident enough to show that low wages was the cause for shortage of black labour. To those whom poverty started to strike, an opportunity was risen to expand in the agricultural industry.

Mineral revolution in Witwatersrand was the influence for white authority in which gold mining industry in Johannesburg was under white supremacy. They created legislations which would keep them in power over black mineworkers. Those legislation gave few rights to black miners, one of the law that consolidated control was “Native Labour Regulation Act of 1911”. The law established basic rights for compound accommodation, food and medical services. Black mine workers were forced to live in mine compounds whereas Boers/whites had an alternative. Furthermore, black mine workers were victims of physical abuse by their supervisors. Gary claim that” Official reports indicated both the history of abuse and the challenge of reining in white supervisors accustomed to beating workers”. Pass law was used to regulate black African population in the Witwatersrand more especially migrant labours. Africans who entered any labour district were forced to carry their pass which clearly state their employment and the maximum of days which they can stay. “In Johannesburg district, an average of 4500 African men were charged with pass offence every month in 1940.

The effects of many people living together in a confined space is always violence and that resulted to formation of violent organisations. There were 3 prominent groups which mainly contributed to major criminal acts that took place in the mine compounds namely Ninivites, the Isitshozi and the Marashea. All these groups were formed by migrants who migrated with a common objective which is to find employment on Witwatersrand mines. Mineral revolution influenced high crime rate in the Reef. Predatory gangs based in the compounds assaulted, robbed, murdered fellow workers and kidnapped women. Gary gives an example where a gang of robbers was operating from the disused mine shaft on the south of Johannesburg. The degree of violence was high in mines to the extent that, there were selected black mine workers to assault fellow colleagues and got rewarded in return. As the gangs expanded to all the mine compounds and prisons, men of marriageable age were forced to engage in homosexual intercourse with younger males. Some people got imprisoned but that did not result to a better solution but rather increased the insecurity of urban life. “The threat of harassment, arrest and incarceration was a day-to-day reality for Johannesburg”. The living conditions for prison and mine compounds were the same thus more people were convinced and forced to join gangsterism. Rantoa is one of the people who left his home for employment but ended up being convicted and joined the Marashea group. You had to join a gang for a better safety. For example, when Johnson did not want to be part of the any gang, he was told that he better join their society and he also witnessed brutal assaults for those who refused to join. One way in which miners started to accumulate extra income was through gold smuggling. African mineworkers dominated theft of amalgam in mines. All occupations were involved in the dealing because “police named 400 mine employees whom they knew to be involved”, from management to general mine workers. The smuggling was inclusive to both genders and ethnic group.

More opportunities around 1880s created by mineral revolution in mines of Johannesburg, started to attract many people towards the city. This enabled sexual composition in the Transvaal to undergo a change which almost complemented the population of males and females in the city. However, the number of males continued to be more and thus enabled an opportunity for prostitution. To mine workers this was an answer to their prayers because of sexual thirst in the area. Gary tells us about how miners used to visit neighbouring townships to access local women which shows that they were trying to satisfy their needs. The lives of women were heart-breaking, but the blame could be shifted to chambers of mines that hired males only to work in their mines. Prostitution was one of the easiest way for them to get an income for survival. Prostitution was not limited to only one ethnic group of females. According to sanitary superintendent’s tabulations there were 91 whites, 83 coloured and 48 black women engaging in permanent prostitution in October 1896.

The conditions in the gold mines were not good for people’s health. Silica became a life-threatening disease from 1902 to 1912. Silica dust is produced in gold mines and it causes serious lung diseases. However, the mine owners did not care about the health of their black mine employees because they gained profit and that was the only thing they cared about. One of the victims of silica dust illness was Mr Makayi who worked for Vaal Reefs mine. With a low wage for a black miner, poor Mr Makayi could not afford medical treatment for his lung disease and passed away, but the mine never compensated for the loss. Silica was too dangerous to a miner’s life in a sense that if the health matter was not intervened sooner than later, many could have lost their lives. “The host ore on the Rand has high silica content, and the use of pneumatic drills and gelignite produced clouds of fine dust that could destroy a miner’s lung in a few years”.

In 1912 South Africa compensated to silicosis as an occupational disease. Gold Miners played a role in the spread of tuberculosis in South Africa and across national borders. According to estimates, the rate of tuberculosis in the mines is ten times higher than any other regions. This turned to a cycle whereby a miner contract tuberculosis, goes home and spread the bacteria to his family members. Wilson suggested that there was a connection between the level of migration and incidence of tuberculosis.

Mineral revolution revolved many things from different perspective. People lost their lives trying to fight for preservation of minerals in the Witwatersrand. The gold mines in the Transvaal benefited most foreign owners such as Europeans, but black mine workers did not enjoy the fruits of their labour. Gold miners were exposed to health threatening conditions in the mines and they were unfairly treated by their superiors. The Transvaal region turned to an endless centre of all violence. The life of females in the Witwatersrand was centred around prostitution not by choice, but because of by the gender inequality and hard labour in the Witwatersrand mines.