1st Edition

Local Responses to Mine Closure in South Africa Dependencies and Social Disruption

Edited By Sethulego Matebesi, Lochner Marais, Verna Nel Copyright 2024
200 Pages 19 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

200 Pages 19 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

200 Pages 19 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book investigates mine closure and local responses in South Africa, linking dependencies and social disruption. Mine closure presents a major challenge to the mining industry and government policymakers globally, but particularly in the Global South. South Africa is experiencing notable numbers of mine closures, and this book explores the notion of social disruption, a concept often... Read more

1 Understanding mine closure: global and national trends

Lochner Marais, Sethulego Matebesi and Verna Nel

2 A theoretical framework for understanding the social aspects of mine closure

Lochner Marais, Sethulego Matebesi and Verna Nel

3 Mine closure policies and strategies in South Africa: a critical review

Samkelisiwe Khanyile and Lochner Marais

4 A scoping review of the literature on mine closure

Anita Venter, Job Gbadegesin and David van Wyk

5 Miners’ lives after retrenchment

Martina Kotzé, Boitumlo Joy Alec, Mmboneni Magadzu and Jan Cloete

6 West Rand: decline in South Africa’s economic heartland

Margaret Kusambiza-Kiingi, Verna Nel and Job Gbadegesin

7 Matjhabeng: decline in the urban periphery

Kentse Sesele and Margaret Kusambiza-Kiingi

8 Kleinzee: looking for a new dawn amidst the diamond dust

Anmar Pretorius and Derick Blaauw

9 Koffiefontein mine downscaling: socioeconomic and infrastructural consequences

Sethulego Matebesi, Thomas Stewart, Maléne Campbell and Oupa Kale

10 Alexkor and the Richtersveld community: unlikely partners to mine diamonds together

Phia van der Watt

11 Tshikondeni: mine closure in a deeply rural area

Verna Nel and Dolphin Mabale

12 Emalahleni’s just transition: from closure to collaboration?

Lucius Botes, Samkelisiwe Khanyile and Zolile Mqotyana

13 Rustenburg: the struggle to go beyond mining

Sethulego Matebesi and John Ntema

14 Rustenburg: coping despite mine decline

Ngaka Mosiane and Cathy M Dzerefos

15 A framework for understanding the social aspects of mine closure in South Africa

Lochner Marais, Sethulego Matebesi and Verna Nel

Biography

Sethulego Matebesi is Associate Professor and Academic Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa. His previous publications include Civil Strife Against Local Governance: Dynamics of Community Protests in South Africa (2017) and Social Licensing and Mining in South Africa (Routledge, 2020).

Lochner Marais is Professor of Development Studies at the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa, and an executive editor of the newly established journal Research Directions: Mine Closure and Transitions. He is also an honorary professor at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Australia. He has published The Social Impacts of Mine Closure in South Africa: Housing Policy and Place Attachment (Routledge, 2022).

Verna Nel is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She is also qualified as a town and regional planner at Wits University, South Africa.