Presenter: Catherine Cross – Researcher in the StepSA Study

Chair: Dr Catherine Ndinda – Chief Research Specialist, Econonic Performance and Development

Date: 18 July 2017

Time: 12:30-14:00

Venues: Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town and online via digital livestream

Five years after the events of 2012 shocked and frightened South Africa, settlement around Marikana still has the character of a violent mining encampment.  With the mining industry in a precarious position nation-wide after losing 75 000 jobs in the last five years, the situation at Marikana continues to deter investment that is needed to create jobs and bring South Africa back to a growth track.

Disorderly and violent conditions at Marikana represent an unremitting threat to the people in the in-migrant population –
Risks around the turbulent conditions affect the mines operating in the area, the mineworkers, the work-seeking informal migrants, and the indigenous communities, as well as the national political scene
High in-migration flows of poor rural-born work seekers continue to arrive, and  Government and private commentators have highlighted the urgent priority of replacing the informal settlements  with adequate housing as key to resolving the anger on the ground.
Neither public nor private housing delivery has been successful in transforming the informal settlements. How can these unstable migrant settlements be stabilized, to reach an acceptable quality of life?  How does oscillating labour migration turn into permanent gravity flow. These questions form the basis of the seminar presentation.
 
This seminar is presented by the  StepSA team. StepSA is a joint spatial-relations research undertaking from HSRC and CSIR. HSRC’s focus has been on spatial migration trends in the Rustenburg/Marikana area, aiming to clarify the conditions for successful housing delivery relative to population movement. 
 
The broader research has explored spatial migration trends in the Platinum belt but this seminar focuses on the Rustenburg/Marikana area, aiming to clarify the conditions for successful housing delivery relative to population movement.

Please RSVP by 17 July 2017

The HSRC seminar series is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The views and opinions expressed therein  as well as findings and statements of the seminar series do not necessarily represent the views of DST.

Pretoria : HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Arlene Grossberg, Tel: (012) 302 2811, e-mail: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za

Cape Town : HSRC, Merchant House 116-118 Buitengracht Street Cape Town, Cape Town. Contact: Jean Witten, Tel (021) 4668004, Fax (021) 461 0299, or JWitten@hsrc.ac.za

Durban :  The Atrium, 5th Floor, 430 Peter Mokaba Ridge, Berea, 4001 , Contact Ridhwaan Khan, Tel (031) 242 5400, cell: 083 788 2786 or RKhan@hsrc.ac.za , or Hlengiwe Zulu at e-mail HZulu@hsrc.ac.za