Johannesburg - People living near mines are not benefiting
from the profits, the Bench Marks Foundation said on Tuesday.
"(The) concern is that private corporations, often with
the support of government leaders, make very large profits while communities
suffer high levels of inequality and poverty," chairperson Jo Seoka said
in Johannesburg.
"The situation in Marikana testifies to this."
Violence flared up at the Lonmin mine, the
country's third biggest platinum mine, in the North West town this week.
"We are not here to speak about the violence, but it is
only right that we condemn it," said Seoka.
The Bench Marks Foundation is an independent, faith-based
organisation monitoring how well companies perform in the field of social
responsibility.
Seoka said the foundation was concerned about the pollution
of air, water and soil by industrial activity such as mining.
The foundation was releasing a study entitled "Policy
Gap 6, Living in the Platinum Minefields". It looked at six mining
communities and examined what had changed, what had improved, and what needed
to be done.
The companies surveyed were Anglo Platinum [JSE:AMS], Impala
Platinum Holdings [JSE:IMP], Lonmin [JSE:LON], Xstrata, Aquarius Platinum
[JSE:AQP], and Royal Bafokeng Platinum.
David van Wyk, researcher and author of the report, gave a
photo-essay presentation of what people living near platinum mines in the North
West experienced.
"We brought people from communities together and
trained them to do research," said Van Wyk.
"We left cameras with them so they could take photos
about what they liked about mining and what they didn't like."
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