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Towards ‘A Different Kind of Beauty’: Responses to Coal-based Pollution in the Witbank Coalfield Between 1903 and 1948

This article assesses the changing conceptions of the environmental impact of South African coal mining in the first half of the twentieth century, with special reference to the Witbank coalfield in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.1 The anticipated development of the emerging coal town of Witbank was founded on the growing demand for coal. As Witbank's local landscape became visibly scarred, coal-based pollution was continually challenged and redefined. In an attempt to market electricity, and appease the doubts of potential consumers, attempts were made by Escom to romanticise features of Witbank's industrialised environment. Once mines were decommissioned, they were abandoned. Coal production increased dramatically during the Second World War, which provided an economic windfall for the local electrical, steel and chemical industries, placing undue pressure on the coal industry to step up production. The severe damage caused by coal mining during this period resulted in the ecological devastation of affected landscapes. The findings of an inter-departmental committee established to conduct research during the mid-1940s revealed the gravity of coal-based pollution, and set a precedent in the way that the state conceived of the impact of industry and mining. The report of this committee was completed in the wake of the war, by which time the Witbank coalfield had become one of the most heavily polluted regions of South Africa.   1 Witbank is situated in the Emalahleni district of Mpumalanga, in what was previously known as the Transvaal province of South Africa.