By the 1930s gold mining supported half of South Africa’s population and government finances

Evidence

36 “The goldmines are the life-blood of the Union …one half of the population obtained their livelihood directly or indirectly from the goldmining industry, and …one half of the finances of the government were derived directly or indirectly from gold mining” (Kiewiet, op. cit., p. 155). — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2335