Speech by Brown Matloko, environmental and community activist with the organisation HERD (Helping Environment and Resilient Development, www.herdnpc.org), at the 2026 Annual General Meeting of the South African mining company Sibanye-Stillwater
Good day to all,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
It seems the company’s stated values respect, accountability, commitment, and enabling — have become meaningless to affected communities because, in practice, communities still do not have meaningful participation in decisions that directly affect their lives.
For years, communities have repeatedly raised the same concerns, yet Sibanye-Stillwater continues to make decisions and respond to issues without properly involving the complainants themselves. That is the first major mistake. If you do not include affected people in discussions and decision-making, you cannot meet the expectations of those communities.
The company often appears unwilling to take accountability for the realities people experience daily.
Instead of acknowledging community experiences openly, there is usually a defensive response. Perhaps the problem is not only the company itself, but also the people responsible for community engagements. However, the company must critically diagnose why there is such a large gap between what is written on paper and what communities actually experience in real life.
One serious concern is the ongoing changes made to tailings facilities without proper consultation or engagement with affected communities. Topic Area II of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management requires operators to develop a comprehensive understanding of the social, environmental, and local economic context of both proposed and existing tailings facilities. This includes detailed site characterisation and collaboration with affected communities or stakeholders to support informed decision-making throughout the lifecycle of the facility, including design, operation, emergency preparedness, closure, and postclosure planning.
However, we have witnessed the installation of sprayers at Tailings 5 and 6 without any engagement with affected communities. Tailings 5, which was previously understood to be dormant, was suddenly recommissioned without consultation.
Tailing Dam RWD 6 was previously discussed with senior management, and there was an understanding that it would be decommissioned. Instead, it was repurposed for another use without any consultation with communities.
These actions do not appear to align with established global industry standards, including ICMM tailings principles and the commitments made to affected communities.
We must remember the lessons of Marikana Massacre.
In August 2012, workers at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in Wonderlop protested for better wages and living conditions. Over time, tensions escalated because workers felt unheard and neglected. On 16 August 2012, 34 mineworkers were killed and many others injured during one of the most tragic labour conflicts in democratic South Africa.
Marikana Massacre did not happen suddenly. It was the result of unresolved and accumulated pressure. The causes included:
• Economic inequality
• Poor living conditions
• Failure of engagement
• Institutional breakdown between management, unions, and authorities
Today, communities continue to experience similar patterns of unresolved grievances. Over the years, communities have continuously raised concerns about:
• Smelter SO₂ emissions
• Tailings dam safety
• Seepages and overflows
• Airborne dust pollution, including PM2.5 and PM10 particles
• Socio-economic development commitments
• Continued operations under historical Lonmin Social and Labour Plans
The question communities continue to ask is: how was the company’s social licence to operate obtained if affected communities are continuously ignored?
Many people had hope that Sibanye Stillwater would improve conditions after taking over operations. Unfortunately, many community members now feel that conditions have moved from bad to worse. Employees are reportedly dismissed while on leave. Injured employees are allegedly dismissed after workplace incidents. This creates a dangerous culture where workers may hide injuries or incidents because they fear losing their jobs and livelihoods.
If employees or community members raise complaints, they often feel targeted either directly or indirectly.
No person leaves home intending to get injured or die at work. Accidents are a reality in mining, and safety must always come before production and profits.
Communities are not enemies of mining. Communities are asking for dignity, transparency, accountability, inclusion, and genuine engagement.
If these issues continue to be ignored, tensions will continue to rise, and eventually communities will once again be blamed for unrest, while the root causes remain unresolved.
We urge Sibanye Stillwater to move beyond statements and documents and begin implementing meaningful engagement, transparency, accountability, and respect in practice not only in presentations, policies, and annual reports.
Thank you.
QUESTIONS:
Community Consultation and Engagement
If “respect and accountability” are core company values, why are affected communities still excluded from decisions regarding tailings facilities and operational changes that directly impact their health, safety, and environment?
Tailings Facility Changes
Why were sprayers installed at Tailings 5 and 6 without prior consultation or engagement with affected communities?
Recommissioning of Tailings 5
Who authorised the recommissioning of Tailings 5, and why were communities not consulted before operations resumed?
RWD 6 Commitments
Senior management previously indicated that RWD 6 would be decommissioned. Why was the facility repurposed without consultation, and what changed in the decision-making process?
Compliance With Global Standards
How does the company justify these actions when the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management requires operators to engage affected communities throughout the lifecycle of a facility?
Social Licence to Operate
How does Sibanye-Stillwater define its social licence to operate when communities continue to raise unresolved concerns about pollution, safety, and lack of meaningful engagement?
Accountability for Community Complaints
How many formal complaints from communities regarding dust, tailings, emissions, seepages, and safety concerns have been received over the past five years, and how many have been resolved?
Fear of Retaliation
What protections are in place for employees and community members who raise concerns or complaints without fear of intimidation, retaliation, or victimisation?
Workplace Injuries and Dismissals
How many employees injured at work have subsequently lost employment, and how does the company ensure injured workers are treated fairly and with dignity?
Lessons From Marikana Massacre
What lessons has Sibanye-Stillwater genuinely implemented from the Marikana tragedy to ensure unresolved grievances and failures of engagement do not escalate into future conflict?
Independent Oversight
Will the company commit that we establish an independent community oversight structure involving affected residents, technical experts, and civil society organisations to monitor tailings management and environmental impacts?
Transparency and Trust
Will Sibanye-Stillwater commit to publicly disclosing all future changes to tailings operations, environmental incidents, and risk assessments before implementation?
Final Accountability Question
Can the Board honestly say today that the lived reality of affected communities reflects the company’s stated values of respect, accountability, commitment, and enabling?
Living Conditions and Shared Reality
Would the CEO and members of the Board be willing to live in Wonderkop with their own families under the same environmental and social conditions experienced daily by affected communities living near the operations and tailings facilities?
Security and Community Safety
When company executives and senior management visit our communities, they are always accompanied by private security personnel. If the company recognises the risks and tensions within these communities to the extent that leadership requires protection, then who is protecting the ordinary residents who live there every single day?
Psychological and Social Impact
Has the Board assessed the long-term psychological, social, and health impacts experienced by communities living near mining operations, tailings facilities, emissions, dust pollution, and ongoing environmental uncertainty?
Executive Accountability
How often do Board members and executives directly engage with affected residents without controlled environments, security barriers, or managed public relations processes?
Human Dignity
If the company truly believes in “respect” and “enabling,” why do communities still feel unheard, unsafe, and excluded from decisions affecting their own homes, families, health, and future?
Reaction/answers by Richard Stewart, CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater:
“We have a desire to assist communities who are, as you know, one of our most important stakeholders, and we certainly take that very seriously. I think since our meeting in Germany, there has been some progress that I am personally very pleased with, in particular the agreement with technical experts in the environmental space, adopting a model of operations. The Good Neighbours Agreement has progressed, and I am very pleased that today we have those experts working for both of us in our best interest to solve these problems. So I think that has been great progress.
I do know that our team meets with yourself and your constituents on a quarterly basis, and many of the issues you have raised are obviously issues we are very familiar with and discuss regularly. So, not getting into all of those in detail today, but of course they will continue to be addressed.
Suffice it to say, to the best of my knowledge, we are currently in full compliance with all our regulatory requirements regarding our tailings facilities, water dams, etc., as well as our social commitments under our SLPs.
But none of that takes away from the fact that our continued commitment to the communities where we operate, and our continued commitment to the upliftment of those communities, is part of who the company is.
I think that, as we have shared many times, our brand is represented by the “only tree,” which is also in the background.
And once again, I would like to thank you for your passion and commitment. We look forward to continuing to engage with you on a quarterly basis to address these issues, as you have highlighted.
So thank you very much for your input.”
