Johannesburg - Four years after the Marikana massacre in the North West and the operational cracks that precursed the violence which left 34 miners dead and many others injured are still showing.
South Africans, and many other parties of the world, are today commemorating the loss of lives on that deadly day in 2012, a loss that ricocheted around the world and led to the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega being suspended and calls for compensation.
However, many still argue that those responsible for the massacre have never been brought to book, and that many more apologies are still needed.
The massacre followed a dispute between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and the National Union of Mineworkers over which was the majority union, a demand for at least R12 500 a month in salary, and reports of intimidation and assault between members of rival unions.
Leading up to the massacre, 10 people - including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards - were killed as violence escalated.
Read also: #Marikana: Lonmin accused of failing its workers
Although there are many answers as to what sparked off the violence - including gun-happy policemen and overzealous Lonmin directors (including, at that stage, SA’s now deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa), the cracks in Lonmin’s operations were highlighted by the escalation into violence.
Tough times
Vestact analyst Michael Treherne says the massacre highlighted the underlying tension, unrest and difficulties the miner was facing. “It definitely hurt them.” He says Lonmin was (and is) the most marginal player in SA’s platinum sector, its capital structures were flawed, and it had no control over the platinum price.
“It makes sense they ran out of money.”
By the time miners took to industrial action, the “go go days”, as Treherne puts the upswing in the commodities cycle, were over.
Lonmin’s dire situation is still reflected in its share price. Between the day after the shooting and yesterday, its stock had lost 99.56 percent to trade at R4 123, giving it a market capitalisation of R11.8 billion.
Read also: Trust for Marikana miners restarted
By comparison, Amplats has gained 6.03 percent, Royal Bafokeng is up 8.61 percent and Northam - the biggest winner - is up 99.23 percent over the same period. Only Aquarius, which is getting out of the game and selling its assets to Sibanye Gold - is also down - 36.92 percent lower.
Treherne says it didn't help that Lonmin had experienced a strike preceding the violence, which would have meant no production, while costs continued to mount.
The multi-year loss-making producer has needed to twice turn to shareholders to bail it out, Treherne notes. He adds this is testament to the shareholders that they sought to put staff first and not shut down operations.
Lonmin, which has the highest costs of the world’s three major platinum producers, was last year rescued by a R5 billion bailout from shareholders.
It has been cutting costs and trimmed more than 5 400 jobs in an attempt to become profitable once again. In the first half of the year, Lonmin turned cash positive, but was still making a loss on a per share basis.
Under fire
Despite Lonmin’s positive outlook, it is far from being in the clear. This week, a report by global human rights group Amnesty International, released on Monday, painted a gloomy picture for mineworkers in Marikana.
Amnesty noted that Lonmin, which has 13 500 employees in need of formal accommodation, has consistently failed to deliver on its 2006 social and labour plan, which pledged that it would build 5 500 houses for its workers by 2011.
“The catastrophic events of August 2012 should have been a decisive wake-up call to Lonmin that it must address these truly appalling living conditions,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s director for Southern Africa.
Watch: Lonmin remembers
“The company’s failure to improve employees’ housing is baffling and irresponsible in the extreme. Lonmin is aware that dire housing contributed to the unrest four years ago that ultimately led to the death of dozens of miners.”
In its reply to the Amnesty report, Lonmin said it has built 2 684 accommodation units since 2012 and has plans to build as many as 11 000 more through a number of initiatives, some of which involve local government. However, it has also said it may have to cut its promise to spend R100 million a year on housing as it keeps battling costs.
That preceded Lonmin being in the news because the community surrounding its mine had wasted proceeds from the platinum miner. A report by outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found the Bapo Ba Mogale community has exhausted almost all the proceeds it received from Lonmin over the past 20 years.
Treherne says if the company had not raised the cash injection from its shareholders, he is not sure it would still be operational.
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