Abstract
Mining and mining related activities have shaped South Africa’s social, spatial and economic landscape. Since the discovery of mineral resources in the mid-1850s, mining has gone on to be a key economic activity which saw the formation of numerous towns and mass movements of people from different parts of South Africa and neighbouring countries to labour in the mines. Despite the many contributions to the development of South Africa into Africa’s biggest and most advanced economy, the mining economy has never been far from controversy. From it’s formative years, the mining economy was complicit with the hegemonic colonial administration as it thrived on African slave labour and mass displacements of people. Many social and economic problems emerged from the mining economy, one such problem is housing. Mining housing is known to face challenges such as poor access to basic services, informal settlements, land invasion, poverty and unemployment. This study assesses the sustainability of housing in mining communities. It examines the impact of mining on the formation of human settlements as well the challenges imparted on housing by mining activities. As one of the predominantly mining regions, the Govan Mbeki municipal area was chosen as the study area, where two townships were selected for the assessment of housing sustainability. Housing sustainability indicators were collected and analysed to gauge the sustainability of housing in the two townships. The results reveal that despite the economic and developmental potential of the mining economy, mining has not positively affected the sustainability of housing, if anything it has only perpetuated the housing challenges in the area. The failure of mining to positively affect housing sustainability has largely been due to mining company’s reluctance to contribute to housing development and poor government policy responses.
M.Ing. (Sustainable Urban Planning and Development)