The Marikana Massacre in South Africa was followed by wide spread mining unrest, which is seen as a sign of a deeper crisis. David VanWyk does research for the Bench Marks foundation (a project from the South African Council of Churches) and has recently written a report on ecological exploitation in South Africa and by South African companies in Africa. The Bench Marks foundation was created after Apartheid to look at ethical investments and corporate social responsibility in Southern Africa.
“We found a huge gap between what the companies responded to shareholders and the realities on the ground. Concerning water, for example, a snail which is
dangerous to people’s heath often appears in rivers downstream from mining. Meanwhile, respiratory diseases increased 80%. And as there is no family housing foreseen, this also causes much higher AIDS rates, higher than 50%”
This podcast is part of a series produced by Firoze Manji for EJOLT, in collaboration with EJOLT partner CCS. All podcasts will be aired on his program AfrobeatRadio, broadcast by WBAI in the US to around 500.000 listeners
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (16.4MB)
