South Africa causes 98% of air pollution in Africa and 86% of waste in Africa – mainly due to the heavy impacts of mining. The Marikana Massacre in South Africa was followed by wide spread mining unrest, which is seen as a sign of a deeper crisis. David VanWyk does research for the Bench Marks foundation (a project from the South African Council of Churches) and has recently written a report on ecological exploitation in South Africa and by South African companies in Africa. The Bench Marks foundation was created after Apartheid to look at ethical investments and corporate social responsibility in Southern Africa.
Firoze: “A lot of money is given to quit large international NGOs to work with mining companies to deliver corporate social responsibility. What’s your view about that?” David: “We know that the IUCN subscribes to this policy and many other large global NGOs also do but we are more in favor of a bottom up approach because the mining companies sign all kind of agreements with the big NGOs and it becomes a form of greenwash.”
This podcast is part of a series produced by Firoze Manji for EJOLT, in collaboration with EJOLT partner CCS. All podcasts are aired on his program AfrobeatRadio, broadcast by WBAI in the US to around 500.000 listeners
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (24.8MB)
Thank you for publishing this interview. It is much appreciated.
thank you David! You migth have seen that about a dozen people retweeted our tweet on your interview already and some organisations want to have it on their website as well.
Hi
I would like to join the team of Mr David Van Wyk , my credentials are Data Mining Specialist and Forensic and Investigative Auditor .
Regards
Vusi Makhoba
0783435399