VOICES OF THE STREETS AIDC

{Podcast interprété en français} Anglo American Plc est une multinationale minière, premier producteur mondial de platinium et un important producteur de diamants, de nickel et de charbon.

Historiquement, ils ont soutenu des partis politiques engagés pour l'apartheid, ont mis en œuvre un capitalisme particulièrement sévère, payant des salaires extrêmement faibles et ont fini par dévaster les pratiques agriculturelles locales.

L'apartheid a permis à des entreprises minières comme Anglo de faire des profits sur le dos de travailleurs massivement exploités. Depuis la chute de l'apartheid, Anglo a déménagé son siège à Londres, mais met toujours en œuvre plusieurs projets miniers en Afrique du Sud et dans les pays alentours.

Nous avons demandé à une activiste vivant dans une communauté affectée par des projets miniers, de partager son expèrience sur les méthodes et pratiques mises en oeuvre par Anglo America. Ces témoignages montrent à quel point une multinationale comme Anglo n’a pas changé sa politique fondamentalement - son ADN même - depuis la chute de l’apartheid. Ils ont eut pour but, et l'ont toujours à ce jour, de maximiser les profits, quelqu'en soit les impacts pour les travailleurs et les travailleuses.

Anglo American Plc is a multinational mining company. They are the world’s largest producer of platinum, and a major producer of diamonds, nickel and coal. 

Historically, they supported parties that took part in white only politics. They implemented themselves in a very harsh form of capitalism, paying out extremely low wages, and utilizing migrant labor, destroying local subsistence agriculture. 

Apartheid allowed mining companies like Anglo to make profit off the back of a massively exploited working class. Since the fall of Apartheid, Anglo moved its headquarters to London, but is still implementing several mining projects around and in South Africa.

We asked an activist living in a mining affected community what she has to said about Anglo America methods and practices. Those testimonies highlights how Anglo hasn’t change its essence – its fundamental DNA – since the fall of Apartheid. It was, and still is, narrowly focus on profit maximization, no matter the cost to the rights of workers and communities.

This episode is the second part of the series focusing on the march organized by SAMWU on February 1st 2020. The march was organised in protest against the job creation and employment practices of the City of Cape Town. 

This time we hear from the people on the ground about how the specific job creation programs run by the government affect them. They tell us why they are problematic and what needs to be done about them.

In this episode people speak to us about the issues that they face in their daily lives. They explain how they survive and why it is that their daily struggles are forcing them to take to the streets. It illustrates the present situation of working class people, their living conditions and their struggle for a better life.


It is the first part of a trilogy. The episode that will follow broaches the issues of working conditions, especially for EPWP workers, in greater detail. In the final episode, the march itself and the movement that is taking these peoples struggles forward will be discussed.

For this new episode - "Never Again India” - we interviewed people in Cape Town who were marching in solidarity with Indian minorities that are oppressed by the Indian government. Especially, two new laws called Nation Register of Citizenship (NRC) and Citizenship Amandment Act (CAA) are seen as intentionally discriminatory against Muslims.

Furthermore, freedom of expression is severely restricted, and violent attacks are to be expected when public statements are made against government policies. Recently, students protesting at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been attacked; at least 35 of them were injured, and 18 landed in a trauma centre.

In reaction to this violence, people in South Africa gathered to call upon their government to put pressure on the Modi regime. Moreover, the march brings critics to the general uprising of ethno-nationalist movements worldwide.

“Rural womens’ struggles in Southern Africa” was made during the Rural Womens’ Asssembly (RWA) 10th anniversary celebrations. 400 women from rural areas in 10 countries across Southern Africa came together in Johannesburg from November 26th to 28th. They shared knowledge and skills, targeting issues such as climate emergencies, fighting patriarchy, agro-ecology and  small scale farming.

In this podcast, 12 women from 10 different countries were interviewed. They describe what it is like to be a women farmer in southern Africa, the changes they want to see in their society, and what they learned in these 3 days.