Victims of the Marikana massacre on August 16 2012. Picture: ANTONIO MUCHAVE
Based on growing scholarly literature on corporate irresponsibility, some might perceive this as yet another example of “a corporate bad guy” Others might point to the “systemic” nature of corporate irresponsibility, in which a broader array of actors are also implicated. I paid particular attention to two key aspects of governance. These were the establishment and enforcement of commonly binding rules, and the provision of public goods and services.
The government and the mining companies also emphasised flexibility in the implementation of these ambiguous rules. As the government negotiator highlighted “you don’t want to straitjacket anybody, so there is flexibility in the implementation of the framework”. What’s more, the local state consciously absconded from areas that had expected to be supported by the mining companies. A government representative reportedly told local officials asking for bigger budgets, “You, you are the children of the mine, whatever your needs are, you go and you ask the mine, don’t come here, we have lots of other communities that don’t have mines that look after them.”