Thousands of informal miners work daily in South Africa’s coal heartland, digging in pitch-black, often unsafe tunnels in Mpumalanga province. While the government labels them “illegal miners,” many describe themselves as “artisanal miners,” supplying coal to local communities too poor to afford electricity generated by the country’s coal-fired power plants, which provide roughly 80% of South Africa’s energy. Cyprial, who spoke under a pseudonym to avoid reprisals, described the constant dangers: “You know when you’re getting in that the upper surface is a stone. Might it happen that it falls down, it can kill me… Take all the fears, shove it away. I don’t know how but … we try.”
Jabulani Sibiya, chair of Ermelo’s artisanal miners’ union, said their work helps communities cook and stay warm. Yet President Cyril Ramaphosa has called these miners a “menace” to the economy and national security, and authorities are cracking down. Analysts estimate over 40,000 illegal miners operated in South Africa in 2021, mostly in abandoned gold shafts, while the formal coal sector employs more than 100,000 people across the value chain. South Africa, ranked among the world’s 12 largest greenhouse gas emitters, signed an $8.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership in 2021 to shift from coal to cleaner energy. But in Ermelo, locals fear the transition may leave marginalized artisanal miners behind.
“For us, ‘just transition’ means moving from large-scale destructive mining to sustainable, small-scale mining,” said Zethu Hlatshwayo of the National Association of Artisanal Miners. Activist Philani Mngomezulu added: “Just one community mine, in the entire history of mining in this town that’s all we’re fighting for!” Ermelo’s artisanal miners have applied for a collective mining permit, but the process remains slow and costly. They stress that mining will continue to be needed for critical minerals in products like solar panels and electric vehicles, and that including small-scale miners is essential for a truly just energy transition.
