Recession has hit South Africa’s mining industry hard, forcing down the price of gold, the closure of mines and the laying off of about 100,000 miners since retrenchment began in September, 1990.
“The tragedy of these particular people, because of the whole apartheid education structure, is that they are all illiterate,” says Ina Perlman, executive director of the organization “Operation Hunger,” which helps fight rural poverty in South Africa.
A recent survey among 23,000 miners shows 89% are totally illiterate. “Even when the economy improves again, to survive (for these people) it’s got to be capital-intensive,” says Perlman. “Capital-intensive means machines and machines mean a minimum of functional literacy.”
About 33% of the economically active population in South Africa is unemployed, says Perlman, noting that unemployment is either directly drought-linked or linked to “our (other) major disaster” — the drop in the price of gold.
According to Perlman, another 30-40 mines are going to close, meaning a loss of 80,000 jobs.
— Inter Press Service
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