Business Day
*A failure of our society on many levels* *Editorial, Business Day, Johannesburg, 17 August 2012 (part)*If the chairman of platinum miner Lonmin, Roger Phillimore, was not on a plane to South Africa on Friday evening, he should be ashamed of himself.
In the wake of easily the worst state-on-citizen violence in South Africa since we became a democracy in 1994, protesting mineworkers at Lonmin's Marikana mine near Rustenburg have shattered the company's share price and sharply inflated the global price of platinum. That is almost a sideshow to the nearly 50 deaths that the strike has triggered so far --- 34, according to the most recent confirmed figures, in a hail of police bullets at the mine on Thursday afternoon.
Lonmin may not be directly responsible for the violence accompanying the strike, but it has wide and deep duties that it is spectacularly failing to fulfil. It has a duty to its shareholders, to its customers, to its staff, to the mining industry in South Africa generally and, ultimately, to all South Africans.
But it is nowhere to be seen. Its CEO, Ian Farmer, is ill in hospital. Its spokesman appears not to be available. The chairman resides in England. Is he on holiday along with the rest of Europe?
Lonmin needs to be a part of the solution to an intractable problem at the mine. It isn't new. The new Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is slowly taking apart the venerable National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the platinum industry, mine after mine. That fact, on its own, should be enough to raise alarm bells throughout the South African body politic.
The NUM is the thoughtful, considered heart of the union movement here. Cyril Ramaphosa and Kgalema Motlanthe, for instance, come out of it. As a union it is a powerful voice of reason in an often loud and rash movement.
It appreciates and values private capital and strong companies. Business everywhere should be hoping the union finds a way to defend itself effectively from Amcu's attacks.
***From: http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/editorials/2012/08/17/editorial-a-failure-of-our-society-on-many-levels
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