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

Marikana – an open wound

Online event on July 14 2022, 2022, 2pm CEST
Registration via kasa[at]woek.de

The struggle for fair wages and compensation in the 10th year of the Marikana massacre.

The Marikana massacre on August 16, 2012 shook not only South African society, but also those in solidarity with South Africa in Europe. Suddenly, memories of the darkest chapters of South African apartheid, such as the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 or the Soweto youth uprising in 1976, were alive again. But what was incomprehensible about this new, dramatic event was that the Marikana massacre had not been committed by a regime of injustice, but by a democratically legitimized government, headed by the once-liberation movement ANC. Full article

Editorial

9 years after the Marikana massacre: Families and community still waiting for justice

16 August marks the 9th anniversary of the Marikana massacre. This year’s commemorations in South Africa, like last year’s, take place in a special context. The third wave of the Corona pandemic, which has been underway in South Africa since mid-June and has claimed many victims, and the measures adopted by the government to contain it, do not allow for large events. The commemorative events will be held mainly online and if analogue, then only on a small scale. More serious than the Corona pandemic for this year’s context in South Africa is the death of 332 people in riots between 9 and 16 July. Full article

Lest We Forget : Reflections on the Ninth Marikana Massacre Anniversary

Bishop Jo Seoka, Chair of the Bench marks Foundation

August 16th, 2021 marks nine years of untold consequences of police brutality on the koppie at Marikana. Truth be told, it was an unprecedented development ignited by years of exploitation as a result of migratory labour system to elect black lives for another massacre in a democracy.
All that the workers wanted and appealed for to the employer, Lonmin was a living wage. Instead, they got live ammunition rewarding them with death and graves and not money or decent housing.

The Zuma saga nearly reminded us of what we wish to forget despite the reality of history repeating itself. Full article

New owner, new perspective for Marikana?

Sibanye-Stillwater’s newly initiated programme for the legacy and future of Marikana has not yet led to a comprehensive change, as the answers to our questions at the AGM at the end of May 2021 show.

by Tilman Massa, Ethical Shareholders Germany

After Sibanye-Stillwater acquired Lonmin in June 2019 and became one of the world’s largest platinum groups, the U.S.-South African company must also address the handling and legacy of Marikana.

In the Marikana massacre that occurred at Lonmin’s South African platinum mine on Aug. 16, 2012, 34 miners who were on strike for better working and living conditions were shot dead by police. Full article