Decolonising Corporate Social Responsibility: A Bosadi-Informed Conceptual Framework for Social Sustainability and Restorative Justice in South African Mining Enclaves
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijsbe.881Keywords:
Bosadi Theory, Corporate Social Responsibility, Decolonial Criminology, Environmental, Social, and Governance, Gender-Based ViolenceAbstract
Contemporary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks increasingly incorporate mitigating gender-based violence (GBV) as a core pillar of social sustainability. However, within emerging markets, particularly inside resource-rich sub-Saharan African extraction zones, these interventions systematically fail. They rely on Western-centric, neoliberal paradigms that prioritise corporate metric compliance over structural, community-level transformation. This conceptual paper introduces a novel theoretical synthesis that bridges decolonial criminology and sustainable development economics. By applying an African-centred Bosadi (womanhood) framework, this study overhauls corporate anti-GBV strategies, moving them away from top-down, state-centric formalistic policing toward localised, indigenous restorative justice systems. Grounded in a transparent, PRISMA-adapted systematic screening of 46 foundational peer-reviewed studies and institutional documents spanning 2015–2026, the paper presents a five-tiered synthesis of qualitative results and discussion. It exposes how multinational mining operations act as systemic criminogenic catalysts by driving extraction-induced land displacement, stripping rural women of agrarian livelihoods, and concentrating cash flow into male-dominated migrant networks. Furthermore, the paper critiques the performative nature of Eurocentric ESG metrics and demonstrates the institutional secondary victimisation inherent in formal policing. As an operational alternative, this study conceptualises the Bosadi-Informed Social Sustainability Framework, anchored by the Lekgotla la Bomme (The Women’s Council), localised grassroots safety hubs, and economic restitution networks. The framework demonstrates that decolonising victimology and restoring African women's financial autonomy are not merely ethical choices, but strict operational prerequisites for achieving genuine, long-term social sustainability and community economic resilience in the Global South.
References
Asante, K., & Ledwaba, L. (2025). Extracting compliance, burying community: A decolonial critique of corporate social responsibility in South African platinum enclaves. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 27(1), 114–131.
Akpan, W. (2006). Between corporate responsibility and corporate empire: Extractives and community development in developing countries. African Sociological Review, 10(2), 43–62.
Baloyi, L. (2020). Patriarchy, culture and gender-based violence in South Africa: A decolonial feminist critique. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, 30(1), 1–15.
Boko, M. (2020). The gendered impact of mining-induced displacement and resettlement on women’s livelihoods in South Africa. South African Journal of Labour Relations, 44(1), 32–51.
Carney, R., Myers, B., & Parry, C. D. (2020). Extractive industries and local gender-based violence: Structural shocks, public health, and intimate partner harm in resource-rich enclaves. Social Science & Medicine, 258, Article 113110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113110
Chamberlain, L., Masiya, T., & van der Westhuizen, C. (2015). Mining and community livelihoods: Restructuring land rights and accountability in South Africa’s Platinum Belt—Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), University of the Witwatersrand.
Chisale, S. S. (2021). 'Thursdays in Black campaign' and the blackening of the widow's body: A hermeneutic of suspicion to resist gender-based violence. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 77(2), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i2.6731
Claassens, A. (2015). Law, land and custom: Conceptualising informal rights in South Africa's mining enclaves. Journal of Southern African Studies, 41(4), 761–782.
Cronje, F., & Chenga, C. (2019). Corporate social responsibility in the South African mining sector: An evaluation of Sustainable Development outcomes. Development Southern Africa, 36(5), 612–628.
De Villiers, C., Rinaldi, L., & Unerman, J. (2014). Integrated Reporting: Insights, gaps and an agenda for future research. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 27(7), 1042–1067. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-06-2014-1736
Elechi, O. O. (2006). Doing justice without the state: The Afikpo (Ehugbo) Nigeria model. Routledge.
Fig, D. (2005). Manufacturing amnesia: Corporate social responsibility in South Africa. International Affairs, 81(3), 599–617. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2005.00471.x
Gqola, P. N. (2015). Rape: A South African nightmare. MF Books Joburg.
Hamann, R. (2004). Corporate social responsibility, partnerships, and institutionalised governance: The case of mining in South Africa. Natural Resources Forum, 28(4), 278–290.
Hamann, R., & Kapelus, P. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility in mining in Southern Africa: Fair accountability or just greenwash? Development, 47(3), 85–92. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100056
Hilson, G. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility in the extractive industries: Experiences from developing countries. Resources Policy, 37(2), 131–137.
Idemudia, U. (2011). Corporate social responsibility and developing countries: Moving the critical agenda forward. Progress in Development Studies, 11(1), 1–18.
Keeling, A., & Sandlos, J. (2015). Environmental and social impacts of extraction enclaves: International contexts and Northern perspectives. Resources Policy, 43, 110–118.
Ledwaba, L. (2019). The shadow of the headgear: Exploring corporate social responsibility failures and structural violence against women in mining-affected host communities. South African Journal of Sociology, 50(2), 43–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/02580144.2019.1654321
Le Grange, L. (2016). Decolonising the university curriculum in South Africa: Epistemological challenges. South African Journal of Higher Education, 30(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.20853/30-2-709
Lesnikov, A., de Villiers, C., & Kuruppu, S. (2023). Gender blindspots in mining corporate sustainability reporting: A global governance critique. Resources Policy, 85, Article 103890. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2023.103890
Maguwu, F. (2013). Marange diamonds, extractive capital, and the displacement of indigenous livelihoods: A decolonial critique. African Studies Quarterly, 14(1), 55–73.
Manganyi, F., & Mncube, V. (2021). Decentralised policing and community policing forums in rural South Africa: Problems and prospects. Journal of Gender, Information and Development in Africa, 10(2), 145–163. https://doi.org/10.31920/2050-4284/2021/v10n2a8
Mannell, J., Guedes, A., & Vyas, S. (2024). Decolonising the field of violence against women and girls: Structural inequalities and mainstream feminism in high-prevalence extraction settings. Social Science & Medicine, 340, Article 116215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116215
Marais, L., Cloete, J., & Denoon-Stevens, S. P. (2022). Mine closure, social disruption, and crime in South Africa. The Geographical Journal, 188(3), 389–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12443
Marais, L., Denoon-Stevens, S. P., & Cloete, J. (2020). Mining towns and urban sprawl in South Africa: Unpacking the land-use governance paradox. Land Use Policy, 93, Article 104739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104739
Masenya, M. (1997). Redefining ourselves: A bosadi (womanhood) approach. Old Testament Essays, 10(3), 439–448.
Masenya, M. (2004). How worthy is the woman of worth? A bosadi (womanhood) approach to Proverbs 31:10-31. Peter Lang.
Masenya, M. (2005). An African methodology for South African Biblical Sciences: Revisiting the Bosadi (womanhood) approach. Old Testament Essays, 18(3), 741–751.
Matemane, R., Wentzel, R., & Oberholzer, M. (2024). Financial performance and ESG disclosure transparency among JSE-listed extraction firms. South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 27(1), 112–129.
Mkhize, N. (2022). Ubuntu-centric restorative justice: Reimagining community-led conflict resolution in post-apartheid South Africa. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 22(1), 57–81.
Mkhize, T. (2024). Traditional leadership and local safety governance in rural extraction zones. African Security Review, 33(2), 89–104.
Mnwana, S. (2015). Mining and 'community' struggles on the platinum belt: A case of Sefikile village in the North West Province, South Africa. The Extractive Industries and Society, 2(3), 500–508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2015.05.003
Mokoena, T. (2023). Women's perceived working conditions in the mining industry: Contextual complexities. Health SA Gesondheid, 28, Article e2212. https://doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v28i0.2212
Moletsane, R., & Mitchell, C. (2023). Rural girls reflect on ownership in participatory visual research on gender-based violence. Childhood, 30(2), 143–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/11033088231166814
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2015). Decoloniality as the future of Africa. International Journal of African Renaissance Studies, 10(1), 13–37.
Nkealah, N. (2016). Conceptualising feminism(s) in Africa: The challenges facing African women writers and critics. Journal of Literary Studies, 32(2), 125–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718.2016.12065
Peacock, D. (2021). Neoliberal corporate compliance vs restorative communal safety: Reimagining mining industry ESG frameworks in post-apartheid spaces. African Safety Promotion: A Journal of Injury and Violence Prevention, 19(2), 54–72.
Phiri, N. (2021). Socio-economic, cultural, and legal complexities associated with women's participation in the mining industry in Chaneng, Rustenburg. Sabinet African Journals Archive, 14(2), 89–103.
Rajak, D. (2011). In corporate trust, we trust? Corporate social responsibility and the new global corporate architecture. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 17(3), 517–535.
Ratele, K., & Malherbe, N. (2023). Decolonising psychology, making psychology indigenous. Psychology in Society (PINS), 65, 1–15.
Sesele, K., & Marais, L. (2023). Mining-induced disruptions, hyper-masculinity, and gender-based violence trends in mining host communities. Southern African Journal of Demography, 23(1), 74–96.
Sidloyi, S. (2021). Women, land dispossession, and the extractive industry: A gendered critique of corporate sustainability in South African enclaves. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, 31(1), 18–35.
Skelton, A. (2013). Restorative justice in post-apartheid South Africa: Evolution, limitations, and the road ahead. South African Journal of Criminal Justice, 26(3), 297–313.
Skelton, A., & Batley, M. (2008). Charting progress: Mapping restorative justice in South Africa. Restorative Justice Centre & Save the Children South Africa.
South African Child Gauge. (2025). Intersections of violence against women and children: Disrupting structural and intergenerational harm in resource-rich enclaves. Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jacob T. Mofokeng, Moitsadi Zitha (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.