The Marikana Workers Struggle for Living Wage An Eye Witness Account

We are in a crisis, and mining is under immense pressure all over the continent. Not only is it taking an enormous toll on our people, undermining democracy, democratic institutions, and political life, it is just not helping to solve Africa's developmental needs. It is part of the problem and not the solution. The BMF believes that as country, we need political will to enforce binding regulations with strong implementation. We also advocate a rethink around mining models and fundamental change of the paradigm to one of a people-centred development and participatory approach. We strongly believe that this will only happen when people, that is, communities in which mining takes place, take ownership, distribute the benefits evenly and have a long-term plan of mining for people and development.