The JUST WORLD Conference focused on developing proposals about how minerals can bring about development for the countries where minerals are found and how communities surrounding mines can benefit from the minerals that local workers help to extract.

Khulumani was represented on two panels of this international conference - the panel on the digitisation of archives where Dr Jobson presented Mr Layton's paper and on the panel on archives for social change. (Both these presentations are attached.)

The reception to the papers was deeply affirming, The respondent to the first paper, Mr Jabulani Sithole, expressed appreciation for, in his own words, the work of Khulumani in 'countering the dominant voice' in the context of events being spectacular that removed attention from the ordinary.

South African political scientist, Aletta J Norval of the Department of Government at the University of Essex, United Kingdom in a paper published in the journal, Ethics and Global Politics, uses an advocacy action implemented by Khulumani's Gauteng Provincial Committee to illustrate Khulumani's practice of democratic responsiveness.

The advocacy action that is referred to is the act by Khulumani of using a ceremony organised by then Director-General in the Office of the President, Reverend Frank Chikane, to give thanks for his survival of an attempted assassination by the apartheid government when his clothes were contaminated with organophosphates with the intention to cause his death by poisoning, as a platform to remind government of its failure to fulfil its promises to victims and survivors of apartheid atrocities. 

On Saturday, October 27, 2012, representatives of Khulumani branches from across Limpopo Province met in the boardroom of the Department of Health and Social Development in Hans van Rensburg Street, Polokwane to receive reports from the Khulumani Provincial Committee members on their activities of the past year.

In an article published in Daily Maverick, Khulumani's Capacity-Building Coordinator, Ms Nomarussia Bonase is quoted as saying that the decision of the DOJ to withdraw financial support to enable the widows of the Marikana shooting to attend the Commission hearings "is another example of a department of justice that 'won’t open its ears'.

(She explained that) the aim of the commission is supposed to be like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “The families of the victims are supposed to be there and also come up with their own suggestions, not only their lawyers on their behalf. They are there to speak out on what it is they need and what the commission should do.” 

Khulumani has applied to facilitate that women address the Commission on their experiences, needs and expectations of the Commission in providing justice and adequate compensation for the loss of breadwinners in a situation where each miner is supporting up to 17 dependents on a single salary.

Last night, October 16, 2012, Michael Hausfeld, Chairman of the law firm, Hausfeld LLP was hosted at an event in Washington DC to receive the prestigious Torch of Learning Award at a gala dinner at The Park Hyatt Washington.

The award recognizes Michael Hausfeld’s lifelong commitment to the advancement of human and civil rights with the proceeds of the award dinner providing support for the development of new generations of legal researchers dedicated to promoting understanding of the importance of human rights in society.

On 2 November 2002, Khulumani and its members will remember the tenth anniversary of the filing of the Khulumani et al v Barclays bank et al lawsuit in the Eastern District Court of New York.

This has been called a 'David and Goliath struggle' as some of the most powerful  multinational corporations including Daimler AG, IBM, Ford Motor Company and Rheinmetall have used every means at their disposal to try to prevent the case coming to trial.

On Saturday, 20 October 2012, Beeld published an article written by former Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission, Mr Leon Wessels entitled "My voete loop na Worcester, waar versoening lewe kry." See attached.

Mr Wessels makes the important point in his article that reconciliation is a word that implies cost. It implies being willing to grasp the pain caused by our past..

On October 19, 2012, the IJR (Institute for Justice and Reconciliation) Selection Panel announced that the 2012 Reconciliation Award recipient would be Mrs Olga Macingoane, survivor of the 1996 Christmas Eve bombing in Worcester.

Khulumani Board Member, Tshepo Madlingozi made a presentation to a seminar held in Frankfurt, Germany last Saturday, October 6, 2012 that was focused on the ANC at 100 years.