The effects of illegal mining on socio-economic development of North West Province, South Africa

Abstract

This paper focuses on the effects of illegal mining in North West Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's most resource-endowed provinces and, as a consequence, is affected by the menace of illegal mining. This paper, based on the synthesis of political ecology and the Dutch disease syndrome, argues that illegal mining in the North West Province of South Africa is a function of the political and economic structure of South African society over history and how the province has become resource-dependent over the years. This then led to the weakening of the manufacturing and agricultural sectors of the provincial economy and pushed jobless youths and criminally-minded people around mines to engage in illegal mining. It adopted a qualitative method based on data from extant sources. It found three dimensions to the socioeconomic challenges of illegal mining in the North West Province. It concludes that the foregoing is a function of the historical injustice of resource exploration and the weakening of critical sectors of the provincial economy. The paper recommends a multi-faceted approach to finding solutions to the menace.