Sibanye-Stillwater convened the 5th annual Marikana memorial lecture on the 20 August, which forms an integral part of the group’s approach to the Marikana Renewal, which comprises three components: Honour, Engage and Create. Speakers at the event talked about the power of shared value.
The lecture was delivered by Andile Sangqu, Transnet’s chair and previously a vice president of the Minerals Council South Africa. In addition to Sangqu’s address, attendees heard from archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, who is patron of the Renewal Programme; Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater and, importantly, a number of community voices.
The power of shared value
Sangqu’s lecture, “Lessons on the power of shared value”, focused on power asymmetry (the imbalance of power) between mining companies and mining community stakeholders. Basing his talk in part on his recently submitted doctoral dissertation, he noted that, “When relationships between a business and its stakeholders work optimally, they drive sustainable business performance, create social value, attract investment, improve harmony and co-operation and more. Not everyone gets what they want, but everyone gets a share.”
However, this ideal state seems to be rarely achieved, and he attributed the main reason for this to power asymmetries between the business and its stakeholders. “When firms flex their authority in exercising power over stakeholders, they rarely live up to the expectation that they should promote goals based on shared interests. And the stakeholders may, in response, use the power that they have in a highly adversarial manner. This was the case in the days leading up to the Marikana shootings,” Sangqu noted.
He set out the principles and practices that stakeholders should commit to, to reduce power imbalances and achieve collaboration with stakeholders with different power sources and divergent and opposing interests.
Sangqu also spoke in more detail on the importance of achieving shared value through more balanced engagements to enhance the competitiveness of a company while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which it operates.
Future focus: renewal
In his address as part of the introduction of the lecture, Archbishop Makgoba reminded the online audience that “the intention of this renewal programme is not only to retrace our steps in order for healing and closure to occur, but also to reconfirm an ongoing commitment to improving the lives of the families impacted, and the communities and generations to come.”
He added, “The road ahead is long, but so is the road behind – we have come a long way together. With unwavering dedication and a united spirit, we can create a future where the lessons of Marikana lead to a society rooted in justice, compassion and shared prosperity.”
Lessons from Marikana
In his address at the commemoration event, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO, Neal Froneman, drew parallels between the establishment of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in South Africa and the group’s efforts to address the Marikana legacy.
“We have needed to face our collective past – good and bad – even though we might have felt that we had not caused it. We needed to engage meaningfully with a broad range of stakeholders on an equal footing and most importantly, we needed to create a future that is different and worth looking forward to,” said Froneman.
He suggested that similar tasks await the GNU: “Just as we, as a business, have had to take a major step forward to re-establish trust, so too the GNU needs to act in the national interest to alleviate poverty and inequality. And the only way to do it is through economic growth. Without growth, nothing is sustainable. The GNU needs to acknowledge past mismanagement and corruption, it needs to bring to justice wrong-doers, and it needs to set aside petty party politics and point-scoring. We need to be frank about where we are today, and we need to move forward.”
For more about the Renewal programme, the commemoration event recordings and copies of the addresses, please visit www.renewalprogramme.co.za/. For further information about Sibanye-Stillwater’s shared value creation, also visit www.sibanyestillwater.com/sustainability/economic-impact/.
Source: Supplied by Sibanye-Stillwater