“If it is committed to cleaner supply chains, BASF has a commitment to these people”: Speech by Niren Tolsi at BASF Shareholders’ Meeting 2023

My name is Niren Tolsi, and I am a journalist from South Africa.

Since the massacre in Marikana in August 2012, which left 34 men dead, photojournalist Paul Botes and I have documented what has happened to some of the mine-workers who survived that fatal day and the forty-four families who lost loved ones at Marikana — a project we called After Marikana.

Through this project, we aimed to investigate the real cost of the Marikana massacre to families, to communities and — through this microscope of the intimate — this strange new South Africa that Marikana has ushered in by echoing the bloody massacres of our apartheid past.

Full article

Crime Scene World and BASF

Hybrid event Wednesday 26 April 2023, 7 pm
Ecumenical Education Centre sanctclara, B5 19, 68159 Mannheim, Germany – or online

Language: German, contributions in English are welcome and will be translated into German

Please register by e-mail and indicate whether you wish to participate virtually or in person at dachverband[at]kritischeaktionaere.de.

The world is shaken by ever new crises. The Russian war of aggression, the associated supply crisis and the omnipresent climate catastrophe caused by centuries of overuse of fossil fuels are just some of the contexts in which the name BASF appears. BASF is also involved in the murder of striking mine workers in Marikana (South Africa), the destruction of the livelihoods of indigenous groups in Indonesia, slavery-like working conditions in Brazilian rice fields with the use of health-endangering pesticides, and millions of imprisoned Uyghurs in Chinese “re-education camps”. Full article

Disappointing results for BASF’s engagement in South Africa

  • Study shows continued deterioration in living and working conditions at BASF supplier Sibanye-Stillwater
  • Precariousness, division and lack of justice still evident nearly eleven years after Marikana massacre and several years of BASF involvement
  • Discussion event, protest and interventions at BASF AGM for more supply chain responsibility

On the occasion of BASF’s Annual General Meeting on April 27 in Mannheim, Germany, the South African-European campaign Plough Back the Fruits is calling for the chemical company to engage more effectively with its South African platinum supplier Sibanye-Stillwater.

Following the 2012 Marikana massacre, in which 34 striking miners were shot dead, those responsible should not only be held accountable, but the precarious, sometimes inhumane living conditions in the mining communities should also be sustainably improved. Full article

Waiting for justice – 10 years after the Marikana massacre

Hybrid event on the situation at the platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa
Launch of the study “Waiting for justice. 10 years after the massacre in Marikana”
Thursday, November 24, 2022 | 3 – 5 p.m., Bread for the World Berlin
Registration: Please click here

Ten years ago, on 16 August 2012, South African security forces killed 34 striking workers at the Marikana platinum mine of the mining company Lonmin (now Sibanye-Stillwater), 78 workers were injured, some seriously. The massacre left a deep wound in the South African society ‒ with victims and relatives still waiting for justice.

A current study commissioned by Bread for the World, based on interviews with people from the affected communities, shows that the working and living conditions in Marikana, which were the reason for the strike 10 years ago, have hardly improved since then ‒ in some cases the situation has even worsened. Full article

10 Years After The Marikana Massacre: Still No Justice

On August 16, the murdered South African miners will be remembered worldwide / Platinum importer BASF bears responsibility for human rights and environmental protection

On 16 August 2012, 34 miners were shot dead at the Marikana platinum mine in South Africa. Plough Back the Fruits (PBTF), the South African-European campaign, reminds on the 10th anniversary of the massacre that miners are still imprisoned and many survivors are still waiting for the promised compensation and an official apology from those responsible. The German chemical company BASF, the main importer of platinum from the Marikana mine, has looked the other way for too long, shirking responsibility for respecting human rights and environmental protection in its platinum supply chain. Full article