A Lonmin spoof ad created by The Public Eye Awards

Lonmin has been nominated for a Public Eye Award. Run each year as a “counterpoint to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF)” The Public Eye Awards (PEA) bestows the title of worst company of they year.

The site is running a public vote and Lonmin is up against some tough competition. Some of the top contenders are Coal India, who according to the PEA, “sacrifices everything for profit: 205 workers died last year in the mines.” Another much pilloried corporation up for the award is Shell who are “the first super-major oil company that plans to exploit the fragile Arctic.” Goldman Sachs are also on the list, who the awards say “pocketed horrendous fees to hide half of Greece’s public debt which eventually ruined Greece.”

Lonmin’s description on the PEA website reads:

The South African mining company instrumentalized police and army to break a strike. Result: 44 deaths

Lonmin currently have only 18 votes, with Goldman Sachs leading the way with 140. Last year 88000 votes were cast.

Lonmin spokesperson Barnard Mokwena seems to have no idea as to what these sorts of awards are about, and gave a quintessentially corporate answer to iafrica.com:

We do not know the criteria used during the nomination and we were not consulted. As a company we cannot comment on the nomination.

The South African environmental organisation groundWork nominated Lonmin for the award. Bobby Peek, director at groundWork told iafrica:

This submission was based on the human rights violations and environmental destruction that the corporation has carried out since the establishment of its mine in the Marikana region.

If you think Lonmin is the world’s worst corporation you can head over to The Public Eye Awards website and cast your vote.

[Source: iafrica]