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African Affairs Advance Access originally published online on January 22, 2009
African Affairs 2009 108(431):221-240; doi:10.1093/afraf/adn085
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© The Author [2009]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal African Society. All rights reserved

Counting the Cost: Gold Mining and Occupational Disease in Contemporary South Africa

Jock McCulloch

Jock McCulloch PhD (Jock.mcculloch{at}rmit.edu.au) is Professor of History at RMIT University, Melbourne. He acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council to investigate and report on silicosis issues.

Gold mining has been central to the success of South Africa's economy. That labour intensive industry has relied heavily on migrant workers for its profitability. In the past decade, scientists in Johannesburg and Cape Town have identified a pandemic of the serious occupational disease silicosis among gold miners. Litigation currently before South African courts raises the possibility of a class action by hundred and thousands of miners against the major corporations such as Anglo American. If successful that litigation may well change work regimes in the mining industry. This article explores the role of migrant labour, state regulatory authorities and science in hiding a pandemic which probably spans the 20th century.


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