Wits University signed a R52 million Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Sibanye-Stillwater mining conglomerate, with the Wits AMIC deck scheduled to be renamed the Sibanye-Stillwater Infinity Bridge in October 2022.
We reject the MOU between Wits and Sibanye-Stillwater, a company that merged with Lonmin and unjustly sanitises the public image of an extractive, polluting, exploitative company. We demand that the R52 million be redirected to the widows and orphans of Marikana, who have not been adequately compensated to this day.
As public property near the Chamber of Mines building, and an important site on campus, the AMIC deck bridge should respect the lives and memory of the slain miners at Marikana. Commodifying Wits' public space and naming it after Sibanye-Stillwater is not only an insult to the memory of the Marikana Massacre, but serves to santize the murderous legacy of the mining industry, which Sibanye profits from to this day.
Therefore, in addition to the rejection of the MOU, we are calling for the renaming of the AMIC deck to the Marikana Memorial Bridge.
Why is this important?
It is the blood and sweat of workers that funds Sibanye-Stillwater’s philanthropy. It would be unjust to not acknowledge this.
The #RhodesMustFall movement emphasised the importance of space and institutional memory as significant instruments in the coloniality of an institution. Having the AMIC deck named first after Anglo-American, and then after Sibanye-Stillwater, situates companies with a history of violence and exploitation at the centre of an educational institution.
Efforts to cultivate a university that espouses the values of freedom, dignity, and work should include efforts to acknowledge those who were killed while fighting for such values. This is especially poignant since the bridge in question is situated adjacent to the Chamber of Mines building.
The names of sites on campus should align with our imagination and cultivation of Wits as a decolonial, socially attuned, institution. In this respect, commemorating the slain miners at Marikana is apt. The Marikana Massacre is a significant point in South Africa's history, and its memory should serve as a timely reminder of the State's (and all public institution's) responsibility to its citizens and workers - and the State's historical failures to fulfil those responsibilities.
Wits University should commemorate this horrendous tragedy as part of its architectural landscape, in honour of the mineworkers' sacrifice, and as part of its commitment to improving the lives of all people in and outside of the institution. And as a promise to never forget the fallen of Marikana, who died for simply demanding dignity.
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