Article
Address by Roy Bennett in Cape Town
We do not wish to see a replication of the South African example as a model for...empowerment requirements—...where...the enrichment of ruling party members has occurred at the expense of poor communities. Rio Tinto and Impala Platinum are embarking on new investments in Zimbabwe. Shareholders...must now insist that...they...incorporate genuinely broad-based community equity participation. It is simply unacceptable for politicians...to throw their hats into the ring and emerge with significant stakes in companies in the midst of such poverty...Shareholders [in mining companies] need to demand from management that [the companies'] rights...not [be] surrendered for the benefit of a blood-thirsty coterie of gangsters...Please don’t legitimise extortion at the expense of the people...To illustrate...the pursuit of ill-advised opportunism,...[see] the sad and seedy role of Old Mutual in the illicit diamond mining...in the Marange diamond fields...controlled by the military junta and...attained over the dead bodies of hundreds of impoverished Zimbabweans. [refers to Impala Platinum, ZIMPLATS (part of Impala Platinum), Anglo Platinum (part of Anglo American)]