Managerial challenges faced in a South African platinum mine relating to women employment as required by the Mining Charter

Abstract

Historically, the South African mining industry was established as a male-dominated environment, which only allowed women to be employed in occupation categories on surface, but they were excluded from underground employment opportunities. The new South African democratically elected government instituted policies and legislation to facilitate the required change. Discriminatory laws, which did not allow women to work underground and in the mineral processing divisions, were repealed by the introduction of the Mining Charter. The Mining Charter has changed the face of a male dominant environment to an industry that must accommodate women. The Mining Charter and other policies were introduced in South Africa in an effort to create platforms as a means to empower women within the mining industry. Numerous barriers are in existence concerning underground employment of women which need to be managed to allow the creation of a diversified workforce. The objective of this study was therefore to determine the effect of the Mining Charter imposed unto the mining industry with specific reference to women in mining. The field study conducted at Rustenburg operations Impala Platinum is a South African hard rock metalliferous mine. A random sample of 195 women participated in the structured interviews. The study findings did not disclose unusual or unexpected South African issues but actually confirmed literature findings as documented internationally. The researcher has made a number of recommendations regarding the challenges raised during the field study. Essentially, it was confirmed that women have specific infrastructure requirements related to the underground environment. Women are forced to enter the mining industry for the reason of limited employment opportunities based on the high unemployment rate in South Africa and as such are willing to face all the physical and difficult requirements of the underground environment. In conclusion, it is clear that mining companies will have to establish clear selection and employment strategies when women are introduced into the underground mining environment. Further studies are recommended, especially with regard to the impact women will have on safety performance, labour complement requirements and financial cost issues regarding women based on the effect of pregnancy and specific job grading for women working underground