Tata Steel drops new Sustainability Chief Pols over pro-apartheid past in South Africa
Just one day after the controversial appointment of prominent environmental activist Donald Pols to the executive board at Tata Steel Netherlands, the company said it was terminating his contract. Pols made the surprising decision to leave his leadership position at Dutch environment organization Milieudefensie to become the chief sustainability officer and director of communications at the company, considered among the top polluters in the Netherlands. Board members at Tata Steel claimed they only just became aware of the controversial ties Pols had with a pro-apartheid student organization when he was growing up in South Africa, saying that Pols should have disclosed the information sooner.
Pols led the far-right Afrikaner Student Front when he was a teenager in South Africa. The organization campaigned actively against a sudden end to apartheid, and mobilized “hundreds of white students at the University of Pretoria” in a 1991 incident in which they chased “Nelson Mandela off a stage where he was supposed to give a speech,” according to a Chicago Tribune report at the time.
At the time, Mandela was leading the African National Congress and pushing for democracy and racial equality in the country. The group said it was the use of an anti-apartheid anthem that led them to use violence to end the rally. They fought with Mandela’s bodyguards, torched an ANC flag, and sang their own Afrikaner songs.
Afrikaner Student Front Chairman Donald Pols told reporters, “We repeatedly warned left-wing students on campus (who invited Mandela to speak) that the meeting would stir up emotions that could not be controlled. The meeting went ahead despite our warnings.” Mandela was uninjured.
Pols also has a profile as part of the community of the THNK School of Leadership, an organization in Amsterdam that wants to foster thought leadership and social impact. “Growing up in nature together with having experienced the change from apartheid to democracy shaped who I am. I believe that major social change is possible if people mobilize themselves,” Pols wrote.
Pols previously served as director of Milieudefensie, a prominent Dutch environmental organization, from 2015 until shortly before his move to Tata Steel. During his tenure, he became a public face of the group’s high-profile climate litigation against oil company Shell. Milieudefensie initially won a landmark ruling in that case, though it was later overturned on appeal.
Two weeks before announcing his departure, Pols had also revealed a new legal case against ING, aiming to force the bank to accelerate its climate neutrality goals. Last month, Milieudefensie said it was “very surprised and deeply disappointed” by Donald Pols’ decision to join Tata Steel, describing the company as “one of the largest polluters in the Netherlands." The organization said it had “no understanding for this choice” and ended his position immediately.
According to the supervisory board, Pols’ move was seen as incompatible with Milieudefensie’s climate mission. Business director Jessica Mahn took over much of his work on an interim basis while a successor was being sought.
The Board of Directors of Tata Steel Netherlands stated that it "regrets that not all information, which was important for making a well-considered decision regarding his appointment, was provided during the discussions in the recruitment process. Therefore, the Board of Directors decided this morning to terminate Donald Pols’ contract with immediate effect.”
