The recent allegations that female employees were forced to strip naked so that security guards could plunge their hands into their private parts in search of stolen gold at Kopanong Gold Mine are not only infuriating, they are a profound indictment of our society’s failures to uphold the rights and dignity of all people, particularly women and gender-diverse individuals.
As former pioneers of NUM National Women’s Structure, we cannot remain silent. These actions are not isolated; they are a continuation of systemic patterns of violence, degradation and dehumanisation.
This moment compels us to reflect on the haunting legacy of apartheid, when black mineworkers endured regular strip-searches, humiliation and degradation while the white elite and mining bosses profited from our natural resources.
The practices mirror these historical abuses, suggesting that the transformation agenda in the mining sector and society at large remains incomplete. That such violations can still occur decades into democracy raises serious concerns about the culture that persists within certain sectors and institutions.
This is not only about labour violations or privacy breaches, but also about gender-based violence (GBV) at its most invasive and brutal. It is about the commodification of women’s bodies in the name of security. It is about the silent consent of those who benefit from systems that allow for such dehumanisation. When women’s bodies are sites of surveillance, suspicion and violence, it is not just an issue of poor management; it is a manifestation of entrenched patriarchy in the workplace.
What is even more insidious is how these violations intersect with race, class and gender identity. Poor black women are often the most vulnerable to such abuses, their bodies subjected to control and violence under the guise of “company policy” or “disciplinary procedure”. But we must also name another truth that is often left out: gender-diverse people, including transgender and nonbinary individuals, face similar, if not greater, violations, and they are rendered almost invisible in the conversations that follow such scandals.
Workplace safety policies that ignore the gender spectrum reinforce binary and heteronormative assumptions that are both exclusionary and dangerous. In contexts where invasive body inspections are normalised, the presence of transgender or gender nonconforming individuals exposes them to even more traumatic violations forced to conform to gendered expectations to access employment or to “pass” in heteronormative work environments to avoid harassment or violence.
Where do these individuals turn when they are made to strip in front of supervisors who do not respect their identities? What justice mechanisms exist for a trans person groped under the pretext of a “search”?
These issues underline the importance of applying an intersectional gender lens, one that understands how multiple systems of oppression (sexism, racism, classism, homophobia and transphobia) interact to shape people’s experiences. The violation of bodily autonomy, whether under the mining helmet or in the hallowed corridors of corporate headquarters, reveals how economic and legal institutions routinely fail those most marginalised. These failures are not accidental. They are consequences of a systemic unwillingness to dismantle global economic frameworks that profit from inequality, particularly as it pertains to race and gender.
Too often, gender justice is treated as an afterthought, a “soft issue” to be tackled once the “hard issues” of economic and social justice are addressed. But gender justice is social and economic justice. Until we embed this understanding into our institutions, training programmes, company policies and legal frameworks, we will continue to see these horrific violations repeat themselves.
The NUM’s call for legal action against Kopanong Gold Mine management is not only appropriate but also imperative. However, this legal action must be accompanied by cultural and institutional reform. This includes trauma-informed, gender-inclusive workplace practices, proper grievance mechanisms for victims and a zero-tolerance policy on any form of body violation in the workplace.
Additionally, mining sector policies must evolve to explicitly protect LGBTQIA+ workers, who have long been victims of invisible violence in the form of exclusion, ridicule and erasure.
SA’s constitution promises dignity, equality, and freedom to all its people.
True transformation cannot exist without accountability. And accountability must include not just justice for the victims but a broader believing with the values that continue to guide our institutions.
As women, as workers, as gender justice advocates and as citizens of a nation that claims to champion human rights, we must be unwavering in our demand: No more. .
And until every worker, regardless of gender, sexuality, or status, can labour in safety and dignity, none of us is free.
- Bowers is inaugural NUM national structure chairperson, while Mncayi-Poloko is LGBTQIA+ activist and director of programmes at Trans Guardians Alliance
OPINION | Gendered violence, mining and the price of eerie silence
Image: 123RF/Martin Bergsma
The recent allegations that female employees were forced to strip naked so that security guards could plunge their hands into their private parts in search of stolen gold at Kopanong Gold Mine are not only infuriating, they are a profound indictment of our society’s failures to uphold the rights and dignity of all people, particularly women and gender-diverse individuals.
As former pioneers of NUM National Women’s Structure, we cannot remain silent. These actions are not isolated; they are a continuation of systemic patterns of violence, degradation and dehumanisation.
This moment compels us to reflect on the haunting legacy of apartheid, when black mineworkers endured regular strip-searches, humiliation and degradation while the white elite and mining bosses profited from our natural resources.
The practices mirror these historical abuses, suggesting that the transformation agenda in the mining sector and society at large remains incomplete. That such violations can still occur decades into democracy raises serious concerns about the culture that persists within certain sectors and institutions.
This is not only about labour violations or privacy breaches, but also about gender-based violence (GBV) at its most invasive and brutal. It is about the commodification of women’s bodies in the name of security. It is about the silent consent of those who benefit from systems that allow for such dehumanisation. When women’s bodies are sites of surveillance, suspicion and violence, it is not just an issue of poor management; it is a manifestation of entrenched patriarchy in the workplace.
What is even more insidious is how these violations intersect with race, class and gender identity. Poor black women are often the most vulnerable to such abuses, their bodies subjected to control and violence under the guise of “company policy” or “disciplinary procedure”. But we must also name another truth that is often left out: gender-diverse people, including transgender and nonbinary individuals, face similar, if not greater, violations, and they are rendered almost invisible in the conversations that follow such scandals.
Workplace safety policies that ignore the gender spectrum reinforce binary and heteronormative assumptions that are both exclusionary and dangerous. In contexts where invasive body inspections are normalised, the presence of transgender or gender nonconforming individuals exposes them to even more traumatic violations forced to conform to gendered expectations to access employment or to “pass” in heteronormative work environments to avoid harassment or violence.
Where do these individuals turn when they are made to strip in front of supervisors who do not respect their identities? What justice mechanisms exist for a trans person groped under the pretext of a “search”?
These issues underline the importance of applying an intersectional gender lens, one that understands how multiple systems of oppression (sexism, racism, classism, homophobia and transphobia) interact to shape people’s experiences. The violation of bodily autonomy, whether under the mining helmet or in the hallowed corridors of corporate headquarters, reveals how economic and legal institutions routinely fail those most marginalised. These failures are not accidental. They are consequences of a systemic unwillingness to dismantle global economic frameworks that profit from inequality, particularly as it pertains to race and gender.
Too often, gender justice is treated as an afterthought, a “soft issue” to be tackled once the “hard issues” of economic and social justice are addressed. But gender justice is social and economic justice. Until we embed this understanding into our institutions, training programmes, company policies and legal frameworks, we will continue to see these horrific violations repeat themselves.
The NUM’s call for legal action against Kopanong Gold Mine management is not only appropriate but also imperative. However, this legal action must be accompanied by cultural and institutional reform. This includes trauma-informed, gender-inclusive workplace practices, proper grievance mechanisms for victims and a zero-tolerance policy on any form of body violation in the workplace.
Additionally, mining sector policies must evolve to explicitly protect LGBTQIA+ workers, who have long been victims of invisible violence in the form of exclusion, ridicule and erasure.
SA’s constitution promises dignity, equality, and freedom to all its people.
True transformation cannot exist without accountability. And accountability must include not just justice for the victims but a broader believing with the values that continue to guide our institutions.
As women, as workers, as gender justice advocates and as citizens of a nation that claims to champion human rights, we must be unwavering in our demand: No more. .
And until every worker, regardless of gender, sexuality, or status, can labour in safety and dignity, none of us is free.
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