Participation and paradoxes: community control of mineral wealth in South Africa's Royal Bafokeng and Bakgatla Ba Kgafela communities
- Authors: Mnwana, Sonwabile Comfords
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Political participation -- South Africa , Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa , Mining corporations -- South Africa , Platinum mines and mining -- South Africa , Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Social Sciences)
- Identifier: vital:11952 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/526 , Political participation -- South Africa , Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa , Mining corporations -- South Africa , Platinum mines and mining -- South Africa , Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Description: Resource control as a form of community participation in the mineral economy has gained much recognition. One prevailing argument is that direct control of natural resources by local communities is an important precondition for equitable utilisation of the natural resource wealth, peaceful co-existence between mining corporations and indigenous communities, and congenial relations between local communities and the state. Studies have also shown that the absence of direct community control of mineral wealth remains a major factor in the communal resistance and socio-political conflict witnessed in the natural resource-endowed regions of countries such as Nigeria, Ecuador, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, little is known about mineral resource control at the community level. Does community control necessarily translate to equity? How does local involvement in the mobilisation of mining royalties benefit different segments of the community? Indeed, how do different segments of the community “control” the wealth? What is the specific model adopted to engender broad-based community participation in the utilisation of mineral wealth – and does it matter? These theoretical and practical questions were the impetus for undertaking this study in the Royal Bafokeng and Bakgatla Ba Kgafela – two platinum-rich ‘traditional’ communities in South Africa’s North West Province that have significant control over platinum resources in their territories. Utilising ethnographic data collected in the two study communities in 2008 and 2009, the thesis examines the character of community participation in platinum wealth utilisation; specifically, the conditions under which community participation promotes or hinders sustainable community development. The analysis uses a “three-dimensional participation ladder” conceptual scheme, based in part on Sherry Arnstein’s (1969) “ladder of citizen participation” and subsequent typologies of participation. Among the key findings of the thesis are that despite observed benefits, the interface of resource wealth and community development is fraught with tokenistic participation, elite-targeted grassroots anger, and local tensions – all linked to the contradictory nature of participation. The thesis further reveals that in some instances the challenge of platinum wealth-engendered community development tends to undermine existing customary and democratic spaces for participation, and that this is exacerbated by community-level issues such as poverty and inequality. The findings of the study compel a shift of analytical focus from conflict as an epiphenomenon of collective community exclusion and deprivation (as in the case of many natural-rich countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere), to conflict as also resulting from collective community inclusion (in natural resource utilisation). At the policy level, the study generates insights that will, hopefully, assist mineral resource-endowed countries, such as South Africa, in dealing with the challenge of developing appropriate policy frameworks for regulating business and social partnerships between local communities and mining corporations, and within resource-rich communities themselves.
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Employer and employee perceptions on the implementation of health and safety regulations at a selected mine
- Authors: Hlatywayo, Clifford Kendrick https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1776-9812
- Date: 2011-11
- Subjects: Platinum mines and mining -- South Africa , Industrial safety -- South Africa -- Management , Mine safety -- South Africa -- Measurement
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/29204 , vital:77607
- Description: South Africa is the largest producer of platinum. Safety in mines has and is always a concern; no matter how much is being done incidents still occur. The ability to improve the health and safety regulations is dependent on safety culture, or the norms surrounding reactions following an error, the learning that takes place, and the proactive strategies in place to prevent future errors. Effective implementation of health and safety regulations requires an environment in which employees are empowered to make decisions about their conditions of work. Very little literature, if any, could be found on the subject particularly as it applies in platinum mining. In the light of this research, do incidents occur because health and safety regulations are not being implemented effectively or are they due to employee negligence? South African unions propose that the government should enact new health and safety regulations to compel mining companies to uphold higher safety standards and prevent avoidable mine accidents and deaths. Is this to say that current legislations is ineffective or that there are loopholes that must be closed. Is this a case in which employees are not well informed or are employers simply not abiding by health and safety regulations or are the health and safety regulations ineffective. The following study looked into the perception of employers and employees on the implementation of health and safety regulations at a selected platinum mine in Mpumalanga. Two instruments were distributed to the respondents. There were 153 questionnaires returned for employees as well as 22 for employers. Random sampling was utilised. The data was subjected to a number of statistical analyses including T-tests, and analysis of variance on the difference in perception of the groups under study. Findings from the research indicated that even though employers and employees have a positive perception on implementation of health and safety regulations, there is still a mismatch between implementation and execution of the policies. Consequently, many suggestions are not always turned into actual action to maintain the safety and health of employees. , Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce , 2011
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