Redressing Mining Legacies: The Case of the South African Mining Industry

The South African mining industry is challenged by the need to address a number of legacy issues that promote a “rear view mirror view” of the industry and fan discontent leading to potential policy change. This article considers how this industry can engage more constructively and proactively with its past by outlining the choices for an overarching remedial theory and forms of engagement. After considering how the South African mining industry fared before the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the article examines recent conflicts in which the legacies of migrant labour and silicosis have been implicated. The article concludes that the past is unlikely to be addressed through a uniform process, and that the industry would do better to be more attentive to the remedial theories and limitations and opportunities inherent in multiple forms of engagement, as these manifest in flashpoints of conflict that invoke legacy issues.