Governance at the margins of the state: contextualising the spatial and temporal realities of illegal mining in contemporary South Africa

Abstract

This paper profiles the everyday experiences of illegal miners (zama zamas) in South Africa, with special emphasis on their efforts to govern at the margins of the state. Through deploying forms of peasant resistance against the state, zama zamas have contested the state, community and large-scale mine operators over territorialisation, property, recognition, citizenship, and inclusivity. Valorisation, commodification, and monetisation of violence have, consequently, become the norm in the daily lives of these actors contesting for space within South African resource frontiers. The key research question that frames this paper is: 'How do illegal mining/miners experience and give meaning to the problems of state violence and community vigilantism, and what does this tell us about their agency, subjectivity, and marginality?'