New Patterns of Exclusion in the Mining Industry

This chapter explores contradictions between black economic empowerment (BEE) and labour subcontracting in the mining industry. The intention of policies that encourage BEE is to bring about structural changes to the economy. These changes do not only relate to issues of ownership and management, but also to the redress of racial inequality within the state and corporations. The assumption is that the deracialisation of ownership and management would lead to positive changes in the conditions of the work of employees, especially those who were formerly excluded from decent employment and benefits that were the preserve of ‘white’ workers under colonialism and apartheid. Nevertheless, policy outcomes are often not what policy makers intend them to be. The realisation that BEE often boils down to changes in ownership without real changes on the shop floor has led to a new emphasis on BEE having to be ‘broad based’. In spite of this new emphasis on broad-based BEE, this chapter shows how policies intended to bring about empowerment are paradoxically contributing to and legitimising the creation of new layers of exclusion. Furthermore, the facilitation of BEE through the subcontracting out of certain functions is contributing to a structural shift in the mining labour market, illustrating that the deracialisation of ownership and management can happen at the cost of labour rights. Full reference: Bezuidenhout A (2008) “New Patterns of Exclusion in the Mining Industry.” In K Bentley and A Habib (eds) Racial Redress and Citizenship in South Africa. Pretoria: HSRC Press, pp 179-208. Download here.