Anglo American-Teck merger: A convenient Canadian exit during SA Heritage Month

MINING has done so much to build South Africa's economy but for too many people living in mining communities, that wealth has not translated into dignity, opportunity, or security.

- REGINALD LETSHOLO

My mother works in mining, and our family has lived in various mining communities over the years, so I know firsthand what it means when decisions taken in boardrooms thousands of kilometres away shape the lives of ordinary people.

The timing of Anglo American's merger with Canada’s Teck Resources tells a damning story that South African leaders appear determined to ignore.

Just as CEO Duncan Wanblad’s restructuring promises collapse spectacularly with a $3.8 billion coal sale dead, the Woodsmith polyhalite project delayed until 2027, and losses ballooning to $1.9 billion, suddenly Vancouver beckons as the new headquarters. How convenient.

For most of the 20th century, Anglo American was a pillar of South Africa's business and industrial identity. Founded in 1917 by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, Anglo American quickly consolidated the richest gold fields and later took control of Cecil Rhodes’ diamond empire De Beers. By mid-century, it had vast holdings across mining, finance, agriculture, and industry.

In fact, eight of the ten largest South African companies by 1970 belonged to Anglo, and by the end of apartheid it controlled over half of all private industry. Its influence stretched beyond business into the fabric of society, building cities, shaping labour patterns, and entrenching skewed economic power.

The company’s own story is intertwined with our national journey, and for better or worse, Anglo’s legacy is part of a dichotomy of pain and prosperity, of which the former need not ever give way to the latter, and of which makes up part of our heritage.

Yet today, Anglo American is all but leaving South Africa. The company’s latest merger with Canada’s Teck Resources, forming a combined entity “Anglo Teck,” will see the headquarters planted in Vancouver, not Johannesburg.