Despite doing one of the most labour- intensive and dangerous jobs in the world, mineworkers in the country were not earning a sustainable living wage, Benchmarks Foundation chairperson Bishop Jo Seoka said last month. He was speaking at the launch of the foundation’s ‘Policy Gap 9: South African Coal Mining’ report.

“Mineworkers continue to work and live in a hostile environment with unsafe and dreadful conditions and face risks to their health on a daily basis,” Seoka noted, adding that the Benchmarks Foundation had been waving red flags and ringing warning bells for more than a decade.

Coal mining, he stated, was an industry facing extreme social and environmental risk. The sector was the focus of the report.

Coal mining brings with it long-term threats, including climate change and ground, air and water pollution in sensitive catchment areas, which jeopardise water and food security.

“The living conditions of communities residing near coal mines are appalling and result from the poor performance on social responsibility by the mining companies and the lack of support for human rights,” he pointed out.

Seoka further stated that the report provided an overview of serious negative impacts of coal mining in South Africa, primarily focusing on the Central basin, in Mpumulanga.

The report highlights the shortcomings in the policies that coal mining companies currently implement when engaging with communities surrounding the mines.

A main concern emanating from the report, he noted, was that South Africa was faced with a crisis of representation and communities and workers increasingly feel the need to resort to violence in their protests.

“Global best practice guidelines on corporate responsibility and human rights are not implemented as they should be by an industry that currently creates wealth from nonrenewable energy resources to the detriment of the environment and surrounding communities,” he said, adding that coal-fired energy generation in environmentally vulnerable areas cannot be justified as a long-term solution.