Who mines what belongs to all? A historical analysis of the relationship between the state and capital in the South African mining industry

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the relationship between the state and mining capital in South Africasince the beginning of gold mining. It provides a historical analysis centered around thenotion that neither state nor capital have been able to dominate each other wholly butretained their respective relative strength and independence. By applying a qualitativeapproach, this thesis seeks to determine whether this notion still holds true today, how therelationship between the state and mining capital has evolved over time and by whatfactors was it determined. I suggest that structurally the nature of the state-capitalrelationship continues to endure fifteen years after apartheid.Accordingly the thesis is organized in terms of two critical junctures, one in the 1920sand one in the long 1970s when the balance of power between the state and miningcapital experienced a number of shifts. Recent developments in post-apartheid SouthAfrica seem, as of now at least, to represent more of a continuation of the shift thatmaterialized in the long 1970s rather than a new conjuncture of its own or one in themaking. Contrasting these findings with the adamant calls of the ANCYL for anationalization of mines indicates that nationalization as the ANCYL foresees it does notseem to be informed by a historical understanding of the mining capital-state relationsand that it is ceteris paribus unlikely to materialize.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University