Marikana massacre happened because fabric of society was broken – Madonsela

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela says the Marikana massacre happened because the fabric of society was broken and the company that bought the mine should develop a new mindset based on Ubuntu and what the future holds.

She suggested a neutral facilitator who would bring all the affected parties together to reconcile and thrash out a way of moving forward into the future. Compensation and justice were very important in order to find closure.

She was addressing the 8th anniversary of the Marikana Massacre virtually on the topic Remembering, Healing and Renewal Friday organised by Sibanye-Stillwater mining company.

Madonsela, who is a professor at Stellenbosch University, said the lives of ordinary people and their loved ones mattered  because “at the end of the day, it’s the people that make the world go round”. She said where there was injustice, there would never be sustainable peace and a weak system always threatened everything.

Referring to the killing of 44 people that occurred on 16 August 2012 and days before, Madonsela said the fabric of society was tampered with.

“In fact it was the broken fabric of society that made Marikana possible. At the core of that was the failure of memory.”

Healing should not only be about the mine but the entire Marikana region as a whole. Such healing should follow an ecosystem approach based on Ubuntu, with an understanding that humanity is interdependent within itself and with nature.

Also read: Marikana massacre: Children of killed miners still waiting for justice to be served, eight years on

“But as long as there is harm in one part of the system, it will impact the entire system. I always say as long as there is injustice somewhere there can’t be sustainable peace anywhere,” she said.

She applauded Sibanye-Stillwater mining company for its initiative to find healing and renewal in the area following the infamous massacre. Madonsela, who described the company’s initiative as a “baby step”, added memory as another important factor towards full reconciliation.

“For me a single baby step is better than no step at all,” she said.

Sibanye bought the mine from Lonmin last year but the new owners were interested in rebuilding the trust and reconciliation involving all the stakeholders.

“The mindset that inspired Sibanye will help or permeate the entire mining sector – it is a move away from an extractive approach relationship between the capital and labour and between capital and the communities and moving to an Ubuntu-founded relationship,” Madonsela said.

This approach further involved co-creating the future by the company, the unions and the communities.

“This promises to be the kind that will move the nation – a shift not only for the company but the country as a whole. To be able to sustain this you need a growth mindset, not a public relations exercise – you need a mindset that acknowledges the past mistakes…that embraces the vulnerability knowing that you made mistakes,” she said.

There was a need for collaboration and letting go of some of the things the mining company treasured in the past and build all from the ashes. The company needed to acknowledge and confront the past and build afresh.

“We need to renew not only the way we do things but also the way we think – from thinking extractively to Ubuntu thinking. From polarised engagement with each other to co-creating the communities we want to live in and the future we want.

Madonsela said things happening today including the stealing from the poor and denying the frontline health workers the personal protective equipment or giving them faulty PPEs was greed.

There was a great need for ethical leadership that did not do the right thing because peers were doing it or they were going to be caught for doing wrong or would be rewarded, but did it because it was the right thing to do.

“Just do it because you see in the future what others don’t see,” Madonsela said.

Sibanye-Stillwater CEO, Neal Froneman, said the first step they undertook as way to achieve full reconciliation with the neighbouring communities was to honestly acknowledge the past and the role the industry played in it.

“We recognise and respect the events of the past. We also welcome the opportunity to engage and collaborate as a stakeholder, among and with other stakeholders who were and continue to be affected. While we acknowledge and respect the past, we want to develop a new legacy for Marikana; one where conflict is supplanted by new social and economic compacts. We want it to be a new, more inclusive and sustainable legacy.

“It has been my long-held and personal belief that to move forward as a company, as an industry and as a society, we need to reconcile with our past and, in so doing, we will be able to collaborate on a new future,” Froneman said.

Froneman pledge to fly the flag of reconciliation, and to address the trust to ensure the past was corrected.

“We will never allow what happened to happen again,” Froneman said.

ericn@citizen.co.za

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