‘Wages are but an expression of time’: The misapprehension of labour time in the historiography of the South African gold mines since 1886

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article alludes to historical evidence that traces working time arrangements in South African mining since 1886. It does so by very briefly summarising detailed narratives of both working hours (which remain remarkably stable) since 1911 and the length of the migrant labour contract (which progressively lengthens) until the collapse of the controls of the migrant labour supply system in the 1980s. At this point the labour contract aligns with the annual cycle of industrial working time. It is argued here that because labour time has been ignored in scholarly historical analyses, there is no explanation why long working hours are required in mining. The reason is that the retention of labour in production underground is foundational to and of greater explanatory import in understanding the role of the mining industry than its acquisition. This view challenges the received wisdom that the exploitation of mine labour is chiefly accounted for in terms of cheap wages for black mineworkers. Labour time, a concept defined at the outset of this article, is asserted as the missing explanatory variable necessary for understanding the developmental trajectory of mining in South Africa, both historically and in the contemporary period.