let's get something straight here

So there are some people in my class who seemed to be a little confused about the migrant labor system in southern Africa, which originated prior to the Apartheid era, but was further strengthened by it as well. Migrant labor in South Africa and throughout that region was especially active in the mining industry. The quality of gold ore in the Rand (the area around Johannesburg where the gold is) is of extremely low grade. Thus, its profitable extraction depended on a cheap labor force. South Africa was and is the dominant economy by far in the region. Thus, many mining jobs attracted migrants from other countries: Namibia (then Southwest Africa), Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, etc. But I find it rather idiotic to assume that this someone means that this system was a fair and equitable one, or that this means that these jobs were well-paying in the first place. Miners in South Africa during the Apartheid era not only worked for almost nothing, but lived in horrible conditions (called single quarters) separated from their families and worked in terrible conditions. Why? Because there were no other options for them—not because it was a lucrative job option. Such options were the only way to get cash, especially after the Apartheid regime established so-called homelands which forced indigenous South Africans onto some of the least productive land in the country. In single quarters living conditions, many social problems abounded—alcoholism, violence, prostitution—and their related problems. Today, this legacy continues, though the wages and working conditions have improved, the lifestyle has contributed to a plethora of social and health problems. In fact, one of the chief causes of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa is due to the migrant labor system. The disease is contracted in urban areas and when the workers return home a very few times a year, it is then transmitted to partners that have otherwise been faithful.

So don’t think that just because something pays better that it is an ideal choice or a choice at all. Just because someone is not enslaved doesn’t mean they are doing something by choice, or that they are being treated justly. F-ing duh. How about you pull your head out of you’re a$$ and thing a little bit further than what you read on the BBC or in The New York Times.