Lonmin remains blind to plight of Marikana victims

THE BENCH Marks Foundation has a sound record of attempting to convince Lonmin and its business associates to take responsibility for what happened at the koppie at Marikana on this day five years ago, and pay compensation to the dependants. That nothing has happened leads one to conclude there is no compassionate will in corporations driven by profit margins.

Our journey with Lonmin started after the Marikana massacre on August 16, 2012. The next year, after our initial meetings, the miners of Lonmin, at a public meeting at Khotso House, asked Joseph Mathunjwa, Dali Mpofu and me to represent them in all matters relating to the massacre.

We have worked together since then and have also put demands on Lonmin and associated companies.

We have asked them to put their money where their mouth is, because in whatever way one looks at this debacle, Lonmin collaborated with the police.

BASF is an accomplice by association as indicated here.

Having failed to get those we believed were responsible for the gruesome killings of 34 peaceful protesting at the koppie, we investigated companies that were in business relationships with Lonmin.

BASF in Germany, the world’s biggest chemical corporation, which uses platinum to produce catalysts, was one such company.

It is the primary customer of Lonmin.

In 2014, for instance, BASF bought platinum at a cost of €450 million (R7bn) from Lonmin, and this increased to €650m in 2015.

In 2015, we approached BASF asking them to consider challenging their supply chain to take responsibility for the families of the massacred miners and compensate them for the loss of their breadwinners.

We embarked on mobilising churches in Germany and Switzerland to put pressure on Lonmin to improve the living and working conditions of their employees and to pay a living wage for which the rock drillers went on strike in 2012.

In 2015, we also appealed to BASF shareholders at their AGM to take responsibility for their investments.

Many shareholders consequently questioned BASF on its transparency and accountability, asking why they were not told that Lonmin was involved with the massacre.

In response, the chairperson of the board of executive directors, Dr Kurt Bock, BASF, and Dr Jurgen Hambrecht, chair of the supervisory board denied any involvement.

Nevertheless, they promised to work with Lonmin to improve their work situation.

It was noted that BASF had a good business relationship with Lonmin and that it would be difficult for them to end it.

Since they did not directly answer our challenges, some shareholders approached us and volunteered their shares to us to use as proxies for future voting rights at the AGM.

It is instructive that BASF renewed its contract with Lonmin last year, showing no intention to temper their relationship, and put pressure to Lonmin to transform.

Also last year, the widows of those killed showcased their art work at an exhibition in Vienna, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

This reflected their stories without their husbands.

Churches, human rights and labour organisations were canvassed for support before we presented our demands to the AGM.

Monitoring the situation back at Nkaneng, where Lonmin has its mining activities, we observed there were some cosmetic changes which we attributed to our intervention and interaction with BASF.

We have, however, become convinced both Lonmin and BASF were not interested in ethics and morality. BASF’s mission statement that they “combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility” was simply fake.

Accompanied by two Marikana widows, we again challenged BASF to listen to the plight of all those directly affected by the massacre.

Their disdainful attitude towards the widows disturbed us.

Despite their negative attitude to our campaign, a BASF delegation visited South Africa and held meetings with various stakeholders, including the Bench Marks Foundation and Amcu.

We requested the report of the audit that was said to have been done on Lonmin to no avail.

We were told that it was confidential and private. We questioned its validity if it was not to be shared with stakeholders.

This year, we went back to the BASF shareholders’ meeting. This time the “Plough Back the Fruits” campaign was joined by Joseph Mathunjwa, the president of Amcu (the majority union at Lonmin), and Mzoxolo Magidiwana, one of the survivors of the massacre.

This time we were better prepared, with new information. We all attended the AGM in which we once again presented the voices of the poor at Marikana, and spoke about the situation of the workers at Lonmin, including those in the surrounding communities.

The chair and chief executive, in recognising our presence, was unwelcoming. The chair did not respond to any questions raised at this AGM and the previous ones.

Instead, he dismissively said there was nothing new in our presentation and once again denied any responsibility, claiming they had nothing to do with the violent strike.

Their reaction showed their embarrassment and discomfort that the union leader and a surviving member of the massacre had joined the campaign.

They became aware that they could not just write off the campaign because it was gaining momentum when they thought it would have run out of energy and money.

We believe that BASF has shown and proved to the South African workers that:

It has no sympathy for the suffering of the workers but are only interested in protecting their profit margin. It supports state violence. It has no respect and regard for the widows and orphans.

It is not committed to sustainable development.