The rising wages of the platinum belt can be observed in the growing herds of livestock at the Nkaneng informal settlement in Marikana. Well-fed goats jostle with pigs at the rubbish dump and muddy patch as you drive into Nkaneng. But other owners have taken their investments seriously enough to spur a new industry of herdsmen to look after their property. Lesotho national Mojalefa Motsoafi is one such entrepreneur. He whistles softly, throwing a rock at a wayward goat as the herd of mostly boerbokke slowly make their way past the iconic rock formation overlooking Nkaneng. Motsoafi drives the goats to graze near the substation outside Lonmin's main operations at Wonderkop. "This is my job now, and I am quite happy with it," says the 24-year-old native of Mantsonyane, east of Maseru. He came to Mooinooi and joined his domestic worker mother in 2002. "I was working on a farm until the farmer died in April." The herd of 44 goats belongs to about seven migrant worker men, mainly from th...
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