Conclusion: Records, Bodies and Contested Justice

Abstract

AbstractThe conclusion draws together the main themes of the book and brings the story of the miners’ class action up to date.For most of the twentieth century, gold mining dominated South Africa’s economy. Through their extensive use of migrant labour, the industry helped shape the economies—and populations—of the southern half of the continent. The mines led the world in the use of science, provisions for compensating occupational injury and state oversight of the industry. Yet their reputation for excellence was undeserved. Rather, the collusion between the state and the industry in suppressing the knowledge of risk, the publication of misleading data and the use of publicity is best characterised as the manufacture of ignorance. In particular, the systematic failure to collect health statistics and employment records impeded the accumulation of comparable data, prevented the consolidation of epidemiological evidence and so played a significant part in hiding an epidemic of occupational lung disease.In the first half of the twentieth century, the South African gold mining industry helped shape and consolidate apartheid. The gradual dismantling of this system in the 1990s presented both the industry and social justice advocates with far-reaching challenges. The recent settlement of the miners’ class action and establishment of the Tshiamiso Trust coincided with sharp decline of the gold mining industry and struggling ODMWA compensation system. Lack of administrative capacity, patchy employment records, difficulties in diagnosing silicosis and TB and shortages of medical staff have been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. These and other issues have become the focus of a Justice for Miners campaign. The chapter concludes by noting that those who support miners injured in South Africa’s process of wealth accumulation—propose solutions to practical problems, conduct research into occupational diseases and mobilise local communities—make a double contribution to social justice. They assist miners and their families receive compensation, and help heal longstanding injuries to the region’s civil society.