Every August we pause to remember the tragic events of Marikana in 2012 and honour the 44 lives that were lost. The significance of that tragedy can never be diminished, nor should it ever be forgotten.
Yet remembrance, while essential, is only part of the responsibility we carry. Beyond the annual commemoration, for the past seven years the Marikana renewal programme has brought together communities, labour representatives, government, traditional leaders and business to reflect on the past and engage with the future.
It is an ongoing commitment to healing, rebuilding trust and creating a future that is better than the past we inherited. But the lessons of Marikana extend far beyond a single place, company or industry. They speak directly to the broader challenges South Africa continues to face today.
At Sibanye-Stillwater our purpose is simple: creating a better future for people and the planet. Our vision, which ensures we deliver into that purpose, is grounded in the belief that mining can and must create shared value for all stakeholders, including employees, communities, shareholders, governments and future generations. Our success is inseparable from the wellbeing of the people and environments in which we operate.
This belief shapes our approach to stakeholder engagement, which is guided by the principle of letsema or working together towards a common purpose. It rests on three simple but powerful principles: honour, engage and create.
We begin with honour because progress starts with acknowledgement. To honour Marikana is to recognise the pain endured by families and communities, to acknowledge the failures and divisions that contributed to the tragedy, and to accept the lessons it continues to teach us. Honour is not passive remembrance. It is an active commitment to learning, accountability and respect.
The tragedy did not occur in isolation. It emerged from deep social, economic and institutional fractures in our society, many of which remain with us today. All stakeholders must reflect honestly on their role in our shared history. As a mining industry, we must acknowledge that while mining has been a cornerstone of South Africa’s economic development, it has also operated within systems that contributed to inequality, exclusion and hardship.
The tragedy did not occur in isolation. It emerged from deep social, economic and institutional fractures in our society, many of which remain with us today.
Acknowledgement is not about assigning blame. It is about creating the conditions for healing. Without honest acknowledgement, there can be no healing. Without healing, there can be no trust. And without trust, there can be no sustainable future.
The second pillar is engagement. If we are serious about building trust, the critical question is not what we are discussing as stakeholders but how we engage one another. Do we enter conversations with predetermined answers, or are we prepared to listen? Do we speak to communities, or do we work with communities? Do we seek agreement at all costs, or do we create space for diverse perspectives to be heard respectfully?
Meaningful engagement requires humility and demands that we listen as much as we speak. It requires recognising uncomfortable truths, embracing complexity and accepting that genuine dialogue does not always produce immediate agreement. However, respectful engagement does create something equally important, trust.
Trust cannot be built through statements alone. It is earned through conduct, consistency and a willingness to remain at the table, especially when conversations become difficult. The Marikana renewal journey has demonstrated this repeatedly. Progress has not always been easy, but sustained engagement has strengthened relationships and created a stronger foundation for collective action.
Trust cannot be built through statements alone. It is earned through conduct, consistency and a willingness to remain at the table, especially when conversations become difficult. The Marikana renewal journey has demonstrated this repeatedly.
The third pillar is create. Remembrance and dialogue must ultimately lead to tangible outcomes, to jobs, infrastructure, opportunity, livelihoods and hope. A reimagined future cannot be designed by communities. It must be designed with communities. Development becomes sustainable when people have agency in shaping the decisions that affect their lives. Trust grows when accountability is shared. Progress becomes meaningful when its benefits are broadly felt.
Marikana has taught us that no stakeholder can solve South Africa’s challenges alone. It has shown us that listening is more powerful than assuming, that trust must be earned rather than expected, and that partnership is more productive than division. These lessons have particular relevance today.
South Africa is confronting a profound social and economic crisis. Unemployment, poverty and inequality continue to undermine the lives and aspirations of millions of people. We must resist the temptation to externalise blame. Addressing these challenges will require all stakeholders to accept their responsibilities and work together towards practical and real solutions.
For communities to prosper over the long term, mines and businesses must remain viable and competitive. Business must recognise that profitability is not separate from social responsibility. Rather, it enables investment, employment creation, economic development and the infrastructure improvements that communities need.
Equally, businesses cannot thrive without stable and enabling operating environments, effective governance and trusted relationships with all stakeholders, including the communities in which they operate. Sustainable progress depends on successful businesses, capable government institutions and communities that see themselves as active partners in development rather than passive beneficiaries of it.
South Africa possesses extraordinary mineral wealth, world-class expertise and immense human potential. Unlocking that potential requires business commitment, an enabling and competitive environment, regulatory certainty, social stability, resilient infrastructure and stakeholder trust. Above all, it requires a shared commitment to growth and development.
Shared value is created when thriving communities and responsible, profitable businesses reinforce one another. Sustainable development is not achieved by any single stakeholder acting alone. It is achieved through partnership.
Marikana will forever remain a place of profound loss. But it can also be a demonstration of something greater: the possibility of healing, renewal and shared progress. The journey we have been on for seven years has shown us that trust can be built, relationships developed and strengthened, and that progress can be achieved.
As we remember those we lost, let us also carry forward the lessons left behind. Let us honour the past, engage openly in the present and work together to create a future that is not only imagined but also realised.
• Stewart is CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater. This is an edited version of his address to Sibanye-Stillwater’s Marikana commemoration event on August 18.
Business Day
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