What happens to a town when a number of its residents receive payouts of R500 000? Poloko Tau goes to Kathu to find out.
It’s just after 10pm on a wintry Friday night and, with about six patrons inside Cappello – a highly recommended night spot – it doesn’t seem like it will be a vibrant night. Waitresses patiently watch the entrance while the DJ sets up. Why does he bother? Does he expect so few people to move to his tunes? “Wait just a little bit, you will see,” says a waitress when asked if all Friday nights were this quiet. Less than 30 minutes later, I changed my Facebook status to something much more positive – the place was packed. One would swear patrons were being bused in, but a peep outside revealed the parking lot was filling up. As the DJ pumped up the volume, patrons swarmed the place, transforming it from a restaurant into a night club, and Kuruman in the Northern Cape came alive.
“The party never really starts until the mine boys from Kathu have come into town. It is like that. The economy of Kuruman is largely dependent on these people from the mines,” says one patron. Kathu, an iron-ore mining town, is 40km from Kuruman and 200km from Upington along the pin-straight N14, which stretches as far as the eye can see, slicing though semiarid bushveld and sandy plains dotted with camel thorn and acacia trees.
The only objects of interest along the road from Upington are the large and very social weaver nests, which resemble upturned haystacks hanging from telephone poles. As you enter iron-ore mining country, the sandy terrain turns red, and huge mounds of red soil dug out of opencast mines come into view. The N14 also gets busier, with enormous mining trucks and bakkies swathed in the same red dust as the mining infrastructure and roads around them.
Then Kathu, which means “town under trees”, appears. Signs that it is one of the fastest growing towns in the country are evident everywhere you look. From real estate billboards advertising new stands in new estate developments, to brand new shopping centres, this small town almost has it all. RE/Max real estate is one of the biggest in the area and I selling plots on new golf estates and freestanding houses from R500 000 to just more than R2 million. Residents will tell you the town’s rapid expansion is thanks to the intensification of iron-ore mining, with the closest operation now Anglo American-owned Kumba Iron Ore, which operates the Sishen mine just outside Kathu.
The 2 652km2 Gamagara Local Municipality, in which Kathu is situated, has a population of 41 617 people, according to the 2011 census. Rewind to about two weeks before Christmas in 2011, and Kumba Iron Ore workers get to go home for the festive season with fatter bank accounts. The lives of scores of mine workers changed when they found themselves pocketing R500 000 in employee share ownership scheme payouts – even those who had only worked at Kumba Iron Ore for a few years shared the benefits.
One mining magazine wrote at the time: “In Kathu, there is almost one car for every thorn tree these days,” adding that “money has been flowing like water” since the payouts. There were so many cars that the town had to invest in robots. Car dealerships made a killing and several set up shop in Kathu to get closer to newly rich potential customers.
The Sishen mine outside Kathu is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world
New houses and developments have transformed Kathu
Kumba Iron Ore built an entirely new suburb in the mining town
Although many mine workers from all over the country went home to enjoy their riches with their families, there are sad stories about those who resigned from Kumba to invest in businesses that failed, and of others who wasted the money and have little to show for it today. Moshe Modise, which is not his real name, was 29 when he joined his older brother in Sishen as a mine worker. After a few years on the job, he received his payout and says he had never seen so much money in his bank account. Modise, who is from Ganyesa in North West, doesn’t want to reveal his real name because he doesn’t want to be “judged” by his colleagues for how he spent his money. “It felt like a dream and I could not wait to get home, but I had to get myself a car first,” he says. “With three friends, we travelled to Kimberley and came back driving our first cars. “It has always been my dream to build my single mother a house, and my mother is now living in a huge house equipped with almost everything she needs,” he says.
“I am not proud, though, that after spending about R300 000 responsibly on the car and building the house, my life became all about partying and girls, and it is very sad now to look at my bank statement, which displays my reckless spending. But great lessons were learnt.”
Another mine worker, 42-year-old Baile Sechele, who also doesn’t want to reveal his real name, spent his money wisely. “It is sad that most of my colleagues treated this money like it was lottery winnings, and they went out splurging on parties, branded clothes and sports cars. I am from a farming background and, in short, I can say I can still walk into my family kraal and put a hand on my biggest investment, which is multiplying satisfactorily – my cattle,” he says. “My first-born son completed his university studies two years ago, all thanks to the payout that made it all painless for us. I continue to work here at the mine, but I go home to my farming life almost every weekend. I take my hat off to Kumba Iron Ore for the empowerment gift of a lifetime, which we did not anticipate.”
Cappello patron Samson Molete has a grudging respect for Kumba’s mine workers, and remembers when the workers received their payouts. “It was chaotic. Suddenly, every one of them bought a car and pursued their dreams – from establishing businesses to building homes, while others used the money to drag themselves out of debt. Kuruman, Kathu and the surrounding areas have not been the same since then,” he says. “... A lot happened, but it is a good thing that, overall, it did not end there because mining operations started picking up and so did the economic activities in all these towns around here.”
Back in Kathu, while residents still often travel to Kuruman for shopping, they have access to far more than they used to. Sishen Airport offers flights to Johannesburg on weekdays, and there’s a Curro private school, a private hospital, at least two shopping centres and a busy industrial zone on the outskirts of the town.
Themba Mkwanazi, CEO of Kumba Iron Ore, explained that as it expanded, Kumba had to relocate residents living in Dingleton in Sishen to Kathu in a project that is still ongoing. “An entirely new suburb, complete with bulk supply infrastructure, new houses of all sizes, churches, shops, police stations and other amenities – all built by the mining company – has contributed to the town’s growth.
“The relocation was necessary as the mining operation had begun to encroach on the designated 500m buffer zone between the mine and the residential area. “The value of the replacement houses built is higher having increased by 11%, resulting in an increase in homeowners’ net worth.” But it has not been easy for some residents.
Pensioner Stefaans Bosiang agreed to move just a few years after renovating his RDP house in Dingleton. The 64-year-old lost his sight after the move, and his wife died around the same time. “Life has not been very good for me, but I must say that I am enjoying the new environment here, even though I can’t see anything. My children are, however, complaining that our kitchen is very small compared with our old house because the agreement was that they would give us something similar in size to what we had,” he says.
Another resident, Sana van Wyk, agrees: “The kitchen is too small and when we queried this, they said they had added a full bathroom to our house, which we did not have in our old house. But not all our furniture and appliances can fit in here. Nevertheless, the area is not bad and we’re closer to town, although public transport is still a challenge.” Van Wyk’s son, Sheldon, who recently matriculated, says he is grateful for the learnership programme at Kumba, where he is training to become a plant operator. “It is a good opportunity and I am hoping for a fulltime job at the end of it. The only thing I’m unhappy about is that the sports facilities have not yet been completed so I can’t play soccer,” he says.
Although Kathu may not have a lot to offer in terms of nights out, it does have some decent lunch spots. Koning Scheepers (38), who grew up in Kathu, says he has seen the place transform from a “small dorpie” to a “town I can feel proud of”. “We’re not forced to travel to Kuruman any more for everything we needed like we did 10 years ago. I can go to a private hospital right here, buy a brand new car and have it serviced right here,” he says.
“Thanks to the mines, Kathu was brought to life at a time when everyone was starting to write it off. This town will start dying if mining dies, and immigrant workers who have become part of our community will pack up and leave – we hope that day won’t come.”