The Vaal Triangle suffers from deindustrialisation, corruption, poverty and pollution. When visiting old comrades recently, we asked, were the sacrifices we made in the struggle against apartheid worth it?
On 16 December, I visited my comrades and friends in the Vaal Triangle. One of them is frail and in a nursing home. I visit my old comrades from time to time to stay connected. There is a saying that your best friends and comrades are your old ones.
The Vaal Triangle was my home between 1988 and 1993 when I was regional secretary of Cosatu for Western Transvaal, which is partly incorporated into today’s North West. It was most famous for the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville massacre, when 69 corpses resulted from a non-violent protest against the hated dompas pass books. The spirit of that act of defiance — on that occasion organised by the Pan Africanist Congress — never left the Vaal.
As we always do when together, we reminisced about the old days. These comrades were banned under the PW Botha apartheid regime’s brutal mid-1980s State of Emergency. They could not meet more than three people at a time, including their families. Dozens of our leading youth, student and civil society activists were in prison or facing similar restrictions. The democratic movement and the trade union movement were severely weakened.
Nevertheless, the Vaal Triangle continued to be a trailblazer for resistance. In 1982, it was here that the Botha regime attempted, through the Black Local Authorities Act, to co-opt black people to be stooges of the apartheid system as collaborators, the same way Bantustan elites had become.
A year later, apartheid tried another co-option gimmick through the Tricameral Parliament in which a House of Delegates and House of Representatives attracted sell-out parliamentarians from the Indian and so-called coloured communities.
It was in the Vaal Triangle that the ball started rolling to make the apartheid system unworkable. That spirit led to the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in August 1983, which turned back the tide of co-option and heightened the resistance struggle.
This led the regime to charge several leaders of the UDF, including its general secretary, Popo Molefe, and publicity secretary, Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, with treason in what became known as the Delmas Treason Trial, in which the majority of detained leaders were from the Vaal Civic Association.
The Vaal Triangle will forever be etched in the annals of our history as an area that, in the early 1980s, revived the defiance against apartheid — including mass civic association uprisings in late 1984 — and made an immense contribution to the democratic breakthrough of 1994.
The cost of freedom
In my meetings with these committed cadres, we reflected on these acts of heroism and the price each of us had to pay. Many of our comrades perished and others suffered permanent psychological or physical damage. We spoke about the price families had to pay as police used their houses as playgrounds for searches without warrants. These were done routinely, violating human dignity.
Even at that distance from Pretoria, we could see the signs of a national regime collapsing and, like the last kick of a dying horse, resorting to so-called black-on-black violence and ethnic divide-and-conquer strategies. The Vaal Triangle was not to be spared. The first person we knew of to be killed in the Reef was hacked to death by Inkatha impis in Sebokeng. We watched helplessly from a safe distance.
The regime moved wave after wave of violence from KwaZulu-Natal to the Reef, killing people in the trains, townships, hostels and even at night vigils. It was a total reign of terror.
We reflected on the violence at the KwaMadala Hostel, which became notorious as a base for IFP-aligned attackers. The Sebokeng Hostel dwellers were frequently targeted in the dead of the night and mercilessly killed.
We reflected on the Sharpeville killings of 3 September 1990, in which 26 people died in a single day.
We remembered the Sebokeng night vigil attack on 12 January 1991, when 39 people were killed and more than 40 injured.
We spoke about the Boipatong massacre of 17 June 1992, when 45 people were killed, predominantly women, children and the elderly. Many victims were hacked or shot to death.
We mentioned a few such massacres, but these killings were numerous and relentless in Sebokeng, Evaton, Bophelong, Sharpeville and Boipatong.
All these organised acts of violence were intended to weaken the resolve of the masses in their shared struggle to defeat the apartheid system.
On Monday, we asked ourselves hard questions as to whether this sacrifice was worth the wanton death, torture, house arrests, shootings, injuries, detentions without trial, banning orders and more. We unanimously recognised the love and courage behind our people’s sacrifices, including the ultimate price of paying with their lives.
Apartheid was evil and a crime against humanity. Above all, it is not even a debate among us that the post-1994 era is better overall than the pre-1994 one in many respects, particularly regarding human dignity, the right to vote, the end of official racism and so many other features of our civil and political freedoms.
While we were unanimous that our struggles, including risking our own lives, were correct, we were brutally honest and self-critical about some of the setbacks, particularly in socioeconomic terms.
The face of deindustrialisation
In the 1980s, the Vaal Triangle was a central industrial hub in South Africa, contributing significantly to the economy through heavy and light industrial and mining enterprises.
During this period, several hundred factories operated in the Vaal Triangle. The region was centred around industries producing steel, petrochemicals and related manufactured goods.
Vanderbijlpark was known for large-scale steel production, and the Iron and Steel Industrial Corporation (Iscor) was the dominant employer.
Sasolburg and Secunda were dominated by the petrochemical giant Sasol, a parastatal agency at the time. Sasol operated cutting-edge factories that squeezed coal and gas to make liquefied petrol and many other by-products.
Vereeniging hosted a range of manufacturing industries, including metal fabrication and engineering companies.
Industries were prominent across the Vaal, partly because of its strategic location near rail and road networks. Coal mines and an Eskom coal-fired power plant enabled industrial growth.
The transition to democracy in 1994 brought significant socioeconomic changes that affected industrial employment in the Vaal Triangle, including damaging neoliberal policies that exposed these industries to cheap global competitors. The region is now the face of deindustrialisation.
Many factories in the Vaal Triangle closed or downsized. Iscor was soon privatised — in 1989 — first to South African buyers and then to the Indian Lakshmi Mittal and renamed ArcelorMittal South Africa. It has reduced its workforce and output significantly as part of restructuring efforts. Automation and shifts in production methods further contributed to job losses. From a peak of nine million tonnes of steel a year 15 years ago, the entire national output is below five million tonnes in 2024.
Sasol’s operations in Sasolburg made it a major employer, particularly in the petrochemical sector. It also played a critical role in the regional economy. Union Steel Corporation was a significant employer in the metal fabrication industry.
All these activities have declined, threatening to reduce the Vaal Triangle to a big ghost town, similar to what is unfolding in the cities that used to host South Africa’s mineral wealth, such as Stilfontein, Welkom, Virginia and Carletonville.
Neglect and corruption
The situation today is terrible and is worsened by political neglect and incredibly high levels of corruption. We discussed an established trend: municipalities and provincial governments initiate programmes to benefit the politicians’ and bureaucrats’ close-knit networks at the feeding trough instead of delivering desperately needed services.
My comrades showed me a building supposedly built to accommodate Covid-19 patients in Vereeniging — see the video below. R36-million was allegedly spent to create this facility, including purchasing beds. No patients were ever admitted, and no security was employed to safeguard it. Today, the building has lost some of its roofing and is being vandalised. Yet it is said that many more millions will be spent on the building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qOGVb_B5Vc
I was told of similar projects, such as a big childcare facility in Sharpeville that has allegedly been completed but never hosted a single child since it was built more than six years ago. Another childcare home, in Bophelong, is allegedly in a similar state, and a nursing home in Boipatong has been unused for years as it is half-completed. A taxi rank in Vereeniging that has been built and demolished and built over and over again is still unfinished after millions have been spent.
Further, there is a complicated bridge between Sharpeville and Vanderbijlpark for the so-called River City project that only exists on paper. The agenda is obvious: to find a reason to eat by conceptualising good on-paper projects. Still, the intention is not to provide service but an opportunity for the elites to eat.
Municipal dysfunction
The Vaal Triangle has been marred by rampant corruption and financial mismanagement, particularly in its municipalities. High-profile cases include investigations into embezzlement of municipal funds, irregular contracts and maladministration in Emfuleni Local Municipality, which governs Vanderbijlpark, Sebokeng and Vereeniging.
The Special Investigating Unit found extensive corruption linked to water infrastructure contracts and other service delivery projects in Emfuleni. Millions of rands intended for repairs and upgrades were siphoned off or misused.
The Emfuleni Municipality has repeatedly been placed under administration due to its financial collapse and inability to meet its service delivery obligations.
Essential services such as water supply, waste removal and road maintenance have deteriorated, sparking widespread protests by residents.
The region’s water and sanitation infrastructure is dire, particularly in Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging and Sebokeng. Because of sewage system failures, human waste has flowed through streets in some areas. Raw sewage frequently spills into residential areas, rivers and water sources, including the Vaal River. Ageing infrastructure, poor maintenance and corruption in service contracts have contributed to the crisis.
Rolling blackouts, illegal electricity connections and non-payment of municipal bills have caused frequent power cuts, and roads and other public facilities are in disrepair.
The Vaal River and dam were once significant tourist attractions, drawing visitors for water sports, fishing and leisure activities. However, pollution and infrastructure decay have greatly diminished their appeal. Sewage spills into the Vaal River have caused extensive environmental damage, deterring tourists and threatening aquatic ecosystems.
Businesses reliant on tourism, such as lodges, restaurants and recreational facilities, have reported significant losses. A five-star hotel next to the river is now the cheapest accommodation as the stench from the rotting fish in the river has chased away businesses and visitors.
The government has invested billions to rehabilitate the Vaal River system. In 2018, an R1.1-billion intervention was announced to address sewage and pollution in the river.
The South African National Defence Force even temporarily managed some water treatment plants. However, implementation of a turnaround strategy has been slow, with few noticeable improvements in water quality or infrastructure. Civil society organisations and environmental groups have repeatedly called for more accountability and faster action to save the Vaal River.
Poverty and pollution
The collapse of major industries has left the region with limited economic opportunities. The unemployment rate remains alarmingly high, exceeding the average 44% (“expanded definition”) in half the country, with much higher rates in areas like the Vaal townships. Attempts to attract new industrial sectors have had limited success, with inadequate infrastructure and governance issues posing significant obstacles.
Poverty is widespread, with informal settlements growing around Sebokeng and Evaton. Crime and substance abuse are also on the rise, fuelled by unemployment and economic hardship that is out of hand.
The air is extremely dirty even if many industries have packed up. In March, Bloomberg News reported on “What it is like to live in the Vaal Triangle: 1.7 million people are living in a crossfire of some of the most dangerous pollution on Earth”.
If this happens in SA’s richest province, Gauteng, and in its third most vital industrial zone, how awful it must be for so many other local economies.
Almost 21 years ago, I wrote an article (published in The Sowetan newspaper on 13 January 2004) entitled “Democracy has by-passed the poor”. It covered a similar visit to my home township, Sada, about 30km from Queenstown. From then on, we have gone backwards in socioeconomic terms.
The ANC, South Africa’s most powerful, dominant political force, governs today with its much-reduced 40% support nationally and 47% in the Vaal. In Gauteng, in the 2024 elections, the ANC achieved an unimaginably low 34%, which is entirely at odds with the province’s history and the Vaal Triangle’s liberation-vanguard status.
The depth of this decline is astonishing. A vast majority have lost hope in the democratic project. They do not participate in elections which, for 30 years, have dismally failed them.
What is to be done?
It is time to revive the true spirit of the Vaal Triangle. It is time to remobilise and rebuild the political and community consciousness of the residents, which is whatever progressive political party they might be comfortable with. It is time for local, provincial and national governments to be held accountable.
We need to start having small civic meetings again and reviving street committees, with all progressive civil society regional structures mobilising everyone in a non-sectarian fashion. The trade union movement, a powerful ally of civil society formations, has died and needs to be revived.
In short, it is time for the residents of the Vaal to be inspired by the Saftu slogan, “Don’t mourn — mobilise!” It is time to remember the time-tested trade union slogan: “Organise or Die!”
Government at all levels must be held accountable. It cannot be that townships with such a rich history are allowed to lie in waste. It cannot be that our people sit by and let this decline continue. DM