ABSTRACT
Having to plan for and having to provide services to a mining town are challenging because the presence of a mine places extraordinary pressure on a town. This is complicated by factors such as the uncertainty about how long the mine will be in production. A need was therefore identified for a partnership and collaboration in planning beyond the ambit of relations between mining companies and the local government in mining towns. To address this need, the Tsassamba Committee was established as a coordinating body in the small rural mining town of Postmasburg with a view to assisting in the development of bulk and internal infrastructure, and to providing land for housing. The Committee’s achievements were measured against the characteristics of successful social partnerships: mutual recognition and acceptance, direct participation and cooperation, vocational training to raise skills levels, institutional infrastructure and community involvement. Planning and policy-making should be based on interactive social processes, which the Tsassamba Committee successfully applied in the processes of bulk infrastructure design and construction, despite having had to do so while still engaged in the processes of spatial planning and land formalisation.
