Cause and effect is a vital concept for human life as we know it. It influences our thinking from the simplest “don’t do __ or you’ll get into trouble”, to the vast webs of possible causes that have an effect on the stock market. Understanding cause and effect is a large part of the goal of scientific research. The problem with cause and effect is that when we humans fail to see the link between one thing (the cause) and another (the effect), we end up making bad decisions and not understanding why things go wrong.
Being blind to cause and effect – wilfully or ignorantly – is costing South Africa more than anyone likes to admit. An excellent example caught my eye recently, as I read an article called “NUM lashes out at jobs ‘blackmail’ of mining-firms”. I’ll quote the three relevant paragraphs, then explain the link.
“The [National Union of Mineworkers] said in a statement on Thursday that it is “shocked and disgusted” after it received a Section 189 notice from Sibanye Gold to retrench 7 400 permanent employees at the Beatrix West and Cooke Operations.”
“Sibanye had to stop its operation for the month of June due to an illegal strike. Following this, it dismissed 99 employees and placed 407 employees on final warnings.”
“Between 2014 and 2016, the industry made an accumulative net loss of around R50bn, the [Chamber of Mines] said. And between 2012 and 2016, the industry lost about 70 000 jobs as it struggled to remain viable.”
The first paragraph frames the issue currently stirring outrage in NUM’s ranks: a massive retrenchment (a polite way of firing people) of 7400 permanent and 3000 contract workers. In job-scarce SA, the loss of over 10000 jobs is a serious blow – and Sibanye Gold is not the only mining company shedding jobs at a terrifying pace. However, NUM seems content to ignore the cause to this effect.
The second quoted paragraph frames part of the cause: inconvenient as it may be for NUM to admit, the massive illegal strike in June undoubtedly either caused the current retrenchment, or greatly increased the amount of jobs lost. Striking is a powerful tool in workers’ and unions’ toolkit for dealing with stingy employers… but much like a sledgehammer, it requires great care in its use. South African workers and unions don’t seem to like taking that care, and striking in the mining industry is a cripplingly common pastime recently.
The third paragraph frames the bigger picture in the mining industry. Insistent, violent and disruptive pressure from unions and striking workers is also rapidly hiking the average miner’s salary upwards, which sounds wonderful, but the reality is that in an industry gradually sinking in losses and crippled by both labour disruptions (strikes, legal and illegal) and power supply issues (Eskom blackouts and horrific tariff hikes), paying the current amount of miners a generous salary just doesn’t fit into the shrinking budget – hence the mass retrenchments at so many mining companies.
The mining giants are probably not blameless in this matter, but there is a clear link between cause and effect that is being ignored by NUM – and ignoring it is not helping anyone, as those lost jobs are a serious problem in our struggling economy. It’s time to start looking for the causes that are having such terrible effects on our economy and jobs. Failing to do so would be the eventual cause of our downfall as a nation.
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