The Vaal Triangle: South Africa’s Deindustrialization Crisis

Journalists Nathalie Bertrams and Tristen Taylor investigate the slow decline of South Africa’s Vaal Triangle, once the industrial core of the country’s steel economy. Built around coal-fired power stations, steel mills, and heavy industry, towns like Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark promised stable work for generations of workers. Today, factory closures, rising energy costs, and global competition have left the region facing job losses, economic stagnation, and growing social strain.

Through reporting across the Vaal Triangle, the project follows residents living through the erosion of an industrial heartland. Former steelworkers, small-business owners, union leaders, and community volunteers describe how the loss of manufacturing jobs reshapes daily life — from shrinking household incomes and access to healthcare to rising insecurity and political frustration.