Deconstructing a single-actor resource ownership model: A study of the proposed uranium mining in the karoo region of South Africa

Abstract

This study engages the discourse of ‘eminent domain’ – the power of the state to expropriate communally or individually owned properties for ‘public good’ – as it applies in the mineral extractive sector in resource-rich countries, such as South Africa. It is argued that the use of the ‘eminent domain’ principle in the acquisition of land and allocation of mining rights reinforces the notion of the ‘supreme state’. The entrenchment of this idea advances ‘the single metric model’ in which one stakeholder's voice is heard at the expense of other stakeholders. This hierarchical framework privileges the state and the licensed mining companies and excludes resource-rich communities and other egalitarian structures. It is against this backdrop that this study makes a case for the deconstruction of a ‘single-actor resource ownership’ model in South Africa. Using data collected through qualitative instruments, the study concluded that the ‘single metric’ approach, in which the state enforces its agency over the other stakeholders, is rooted in its understanding of ‘rights and sovereignty’ over land and mineral resource ownership in South Africa. This strikes at the centre of a developing conflict among the stakeholders in the uranium-rich community. Therefore, the disaggregation of the current unconstructive policy space dominated by the hierarchic state to one which accommodates diverse views and voices of other stakeholders will create a multi-metric, pluralistic and democratic environment where the ‘public-use principle’ in essence does not exclude the public.