Marikana massacre: lessons for HR

| Friday April 26, 2013 00:00

It is usually said that 'a man can be good. A man can lead an honourable life. A man could give to charity, but at the end of it all, the number of people attending his funeral is generally dependent upon the weather'. The weather has changed now. The rain storms of apartheid South Africa are no more. Democratic governance and assurance of equal rights to all by the new constitution, black or white, is a clearly new sky, one that brings about an element of entitlement to the black worker and a sense of guilt to the white worker. Gone are the days when a black worker mourned workplace harassment in silence, in the dark, beating his drums mutely, his voice only as loud as the sound of a whisper. Today, he is no longer a caged bird. He is out there, on the street toyi-toying on one leg, with spears, chanting songs of the struggle, aloud! His right to strike is guaranteed. His right to refuse unsafe work is provided for by the law, and adherence by the employer is not optional, it's compulsory. With this new profile of the worker in mind, I wish to draw a few revelations from what the media has termed 'the Marikana Massacre' and finally bring back this home: what does it all mean for human capital management in Botswana?

On August 16, 2012, a clear summer's day was tainted with a pool of blood oozing from at least 60+ bodies, 34 of which died following a police shoot out at a mine owned by Lonmin, the 3rd largest platinum mine in the world.This became a contemporary topical issue in HR circles, more especially to students of Industrial/Employee Relations. We have been asking ourselves: what happens when the workplace becomes a battle ground for two fierce opposing unions? What happens when your employees bring forth machets and knob-kerries to fight tooth and nail, each willing to take no prisoners, all armed to kill? What happens when these two meet an armed police force, one ready to kill in the name of self defence? And how does this affect productivity levels? What about industrial peace? To answer these questions, the Institute of Human Resource Management of Botswana hosted Barnard Mokwena, the Executive Vice President of Human Capital & External Affairs at Lonmin at a breakfast seminar here in Gaborone Sun on Wednesday.

I consider Mokwena, a South African citizen born and bred in Botswana, one of our human gems held offshore. As the Executive Vice President in charge of Human Capital and External Affairs at Lonmin, our brother from Peleng,Lobatse, is literally responsible for almost 40,000 employees of Lonmin, overseeing close to 40 managers.

To have a Motswana making decisions at that level, in a corporation whose operations are not only high tech but labour intensive is something we don't hear everyday. It was such a great privilege to meet Barnard and hear him speak to his countrymen on such a sensitive topic. His lessons were valuable and his deliberation thought provoking. Despite that he could not go into details over what happened on August 16, 2012 in Marikana, taking into consideration the proceedings of the Farlam commission, Barnard shared a lot with the HR fraternity in Botswana on the lessons learnt and the value of scenario planning.

I consider the Marikana Massacre to be a wake up call for HR in the region. Despite the rapidly changing political, technological and economic environment, HR continues to remain secluded from the rest of society, with nothing happening around us reflected in our overall business strategies. I strongly believe that scenario planning ability emanate from first being able to understand current thinking and current facts. It is current thinking, in its fullness, be it sociology of the worker or economics of labour that will enable us to make proper and responsive hypothesis. We can only predict if we know the now. It is widely believed that most HR practitioners in the region seldom ask themselves what if.

The purpose of the IHRM breakfast seminar was to ask what if we were Lonmin? What if we were in charge as Mokwena? What if NUM and TEBA were our unions here? What if the South African Police were the Botswana PoliceIn other words, the seminar gave us a chance to reflect on our environment with a view to imagine HR strategy of the future. I noted with interest from Mokwena how post 1994 politics in South Africa changed the landscape of supervision, recruitment, labour relations, or just how the new constitution re-defined the whole employee life cycle. If there is any message that came out clearly from the seminar is that we cannot ignore the environment in which we function.

Labour relations is a political topic everywhere in the world. It is a subject that even informs the doctrine of certain political movements. The role of the HR practitioner is to continuously gauge the political environment and make intelligent guesses on how it will affect business operations in the future. On my own assessment I find Marikana to be partly a result of politicisation of the labour movement.

Reflecting on what this means for Botswana, I remembered my learned uncle, Thembo Lebang's sentiments back in 2009 at an IHRM Conference when he said 'you should be careful of marriages between unions and political parties'. Lebang, one of our accomplished mediators, was on point. I have echoed the same sentiments elsewhere. I choose not to comment on the merits and de-merits of such marriages. It is for political parties and unions to fathom. My interest is in the HR practitioner knowing that the weather has changed. Gone are the days when union demands were determined at a union meeting. Today, union resolutions can be a result of a political process. Gone are the days when labour relations was purely a tri-partite affair consisting of only government, workers/their representatives and employers. Today, there are many forces outside structures of the union which may determine the union's dealings with employer. The HR practitioner must find strategies to swim even under these supposedly cold waters.

HR practitioners should know that in today's highly politicised work space, employee loyalty is competed for. It is not guaranteed by a mere employment contract. In South Africa, the competition for loyalty is even though for the employer since the union is also highly involved in recruitment; in a way giving would be employees an impression that they are employed at the mercy of the union and incumbents that their stay in the company is consolidated by the union.

And its common cause that nobody bites the hand that feeds them. Okay, go on. I know you are about to remind me that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Wrong! It depends on whose hand carries the money to the piper. It depends on whose voice the piper hears. The employer cannot afford to stay far from the piper. He must stay so close to hear if the notes he ordered are played in the manner that makes shareholders dance.

He must not only stay close to the employee, he must also stay so close to the ground and  hear what Raymond Ackerman, founder of Pick'n Pay calls hearing 'grasshoppers jump'. Any slight change in the environment must be noted for adjustment of strategy or policy.  In order to become a strategic business partner, HR must continue to scan the environment with a view to identify any possible hazards and opportunities that may arise as a result of political, technological and economic possibilities of the future. Let us begin to stay so close to hear grasshoppers jump. We are not exempt to the tragedy that befell Lonmin.

*Moagisi Zulu Gokatweng is the president of the Institute Of Human Resource Management of Botswana.