Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

From village to village, such stories were a recurring refrain. ‘I used to carry
[my husband] around,’ said another woman. ‘I used to go from house to
house asking for food, we had children going to school. At times I would
get piece jobs so we could eat.’
Eventually, this woman’s husband became unable to breathe. He died
before he could even get in a car to go to hospital.
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These conditions are the predictable outcome of deliberate mining policies
started in the 1880s, when gold was first discovered. Gold mining houses
colluded with British colonial governments to put in place a range of taxes
and legislation that forced black men to leave their land to work in the
mines.
Once there, these men were forced to do dangerous jobs. Their work
exposed them to malnutrition, tuberculosis and dangerous levels of silica
dust. Many developed silicosis, which scars the lungs, makes breathing
difficult, increases vulnerability to tuberculosis and can ultimately cause
asphyxiation.
Black women, on the other hand, were required to remain in rural areas,
where they carried out the work of raising workers and, often, caring for
them when they later returned home desperately ill.
This exploitation remained entrenched for most of the 20th century. The
mining industry corrupted the medical examination boards ostensibly in
charge of mineworkers’ health. The boards then underreported cases of
silicosis, decreasing workers’ eligibility for compensation. Together with
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER 17