Desperate times call for desperate measures, they say. And finding themselves in depth of despair, communities that were sustained by mines for over 9 decades have been driven to destitution by the closure of mines.
Scavenging for plastic or scrap metal to be sold to recycling companies at meager prices, just to afford a loaf of bread and small soup sachet for a day, has become an economic activity for dependents of retrenched mine workers.
On the way from covering a corporate social investment event in Sun City, Transform SA Online’s curious team detoured to areas surrounding the Rustenburg mining town to find out about the conditions.
“I spend a good part of the day here to look for good plastic and scraps of metal. On good days we get good material which means more money,” says Thapelo Raditladi* who dropped out of school in 2013 following his father’s death during the Marikana tragedy to support his younger sibling.
“When my father was alive…He could not let me do this. He was there for us.”
With a level of maturity that belies his age, at 15, Raditladi” supports his mother to buy bare essentials. His mother used to own a tuckshop which was serviced by mineworkers. She was forced to close it during the five-month platinum strike last year, whose end has not brought much joy to the people of Rustenburg and surrounding areas.
