For decades, mining has shaped the economic and social landscape of South Africa’s heartland. Towns like Welkom, Marikana, and Rustenburg were built around the rhythms of shafts, shifts, and smelting. Yet, as the global economy evolves and the mining sector transforms, a new question emerges: What becomes of mining towns when the mining slows?
At the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA), this question has guided our work for 38 years now. Established by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the MDA has been at the forefront of post-mining development creating pathways for mineworkers, their families, and surrounding communities to participate meaningfully in the economy beyond the life of the mine.
Our approach has always been practical and people-centred: agricultural development, enterprise incubation, cooperative support, and now, digital empowerment. Each intervention reflects a belief that transformation is not about replacing mining, it’s about redefining opportunity in places where the ground once gave us wealth, but where human potential now holds the future.
The Evolution of Post-Mining Development
Historically, the MDA’s work focused on helping retrenched mineworkers and rural communities build livelihoods in agriculture and small enterprise. From vegetable cooperatives in the North West to poultry farms in the Eastern Cape, these initiatives created jobs, strengthened food security, and revived local economies.
The MDA Agri Hub in Marikana became a model of what’s possible when post-mining communities are given the tools and training to own their development. Beyond being a productive agricultural space, the hub evolved into a skills centre—where youth learned agro-processing, hydroponics, and agribusiness management. It proved that mining towns could reinvent themselves as centres of production and innovation, not decline.
But as the world entered the digital age, it became clear that economic sustainability would require more than crops and cooperatives. To truly empower the next generation, we needed to bridge the digital divide that continues to separate mining towns from South Africa’s growing tech economy.
The Digital Leap: Building the Future in Welkom
This insight led to our latest milestone the launch of the MDA Digital Hub in Welkom–Matjhabeng, developed in partnership with Sibanye-Stillwater and Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA). The hub represents a bold new chapter in post-mining development: one that blends digital skills, entrepreneurship, and community enterprise in a single, sustainable ecosystem.
Located in the heart of the Free State’s goldfields, the Digital Hub is not merely a training centre, it is an engine of opportunity. Equipped with cutting-edge technology and supported by Cisco-accredited digital training, the Hub offers programmes in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual Reality, and Digital Literacy. It transforms mining towns from places of extraction into centres of innovation.
What makes this initiative truly unique is its integration with the Agri Hub network. Through a “digital-agri” synergy, youth trained in digital technologies can apply their skills in agriculture, logistics, and small business management. For instance, data-driven farming techniques, drone monitoring, and online produce marketing are now real possibilities for young entrepreneurs in the Free State and North West.
The power of the Agri Hub that is digital lies precisely in this blend using technology to make traditional sectors smarter, more inclusive, and more resilient.
Youth at the Centre of Change
The most powerful resource in any mining town isn’t beneath the ground—it’s the young people above it. Across the Free State, North West, and Mpumalanga, there is a generation of young men and women eager to learn, create, and contribute. Yet too often, they are cut off from opportunities that demand digital literacy and access to technology.
The MDA Digital Hub changes that. In partnership with TVET Colleges, we are creating clear pathways from education to employment. Students gain hands-on exposure to industry-relevant technologies while being supported to start small digital or tech-enabled businesses. Whether through coding, networking, or digital marketing, youth are being equipped to build livelihoods that align with the 21st-century economy.
This isn’t only about skills, it’s about mindset. We want the youth of Matjhabeng and Marikana to see themselves not as job seekers, but as digital citizens and innovators. The Hub’s open-access structure ensures that every learner, regardless of background, can participate in South Africa’s digital transformation story.
Building Jobs, Not Just Hope
Sustainability requires more than training. It requires real, income-generating work. That’s why the Digital Hub includes a Community Internet Service Provider (ISP), a LPG Gas enterprise, and a Farm House outlet supplying fresh produce from the MDA’s Agri Hub network.
Each of these ventures creates jobs while circulating money within the local economy. The ISP trains young technicians to maintain broadband networks, ensuring digital inclusion in surrounding communities. The LPG enterprise provides affordable, safe energy solutions while supporting micro-franchise opportunities. The Farm House outlet connects local farmers directly with consumers—digitally tracking inventory, pricing, and distribution through systems developed by trainees themselves.
The result is a self-reinforcing ecosystem: training leads to enterprise, enterprise sustains jobs, and jobs sustain community resilience.
Partnerships that Power Progress
Our collaboration with Sibanye-Stillwater and Rand Mutual Assurance underscores a crucial point: transformation thrives through partnership. The private sector, government, and development agencies each bring essential strengths resources, reach, and relevance.
We are honoured to have the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Mr Gwede Mantashe, join us at the Hub’s official launch. His presence reflects a shared vision: that mining communities can, and must, evolve into dynamic centres of opportunity long after the last shaft closes.
A Vision Beyond the Mine
The MDA Digital Hub is not an endpoint, it’s a prototype. Our goal is to replicate and adapt this model across South Africa’s mining regions, creating a national network of digital-agri enterprise hubs. Each one will nurture local innovation, enable inclusive growth, and ensure that the legacy of mining communities is not in decline, but digital reinvention.
As we look forward, our mission remains clear: to transform every mining town from a story of extraction into a story of creation. The MDA believes that when technology, education, and enterprise meet, hope becomes opportunity and opportunity becomes impact.
The mines built our towns. Now, through digital innovation, we can build their future.
