Tata Steel Netherlands has terminated the contract of its newly appointed Director of Sustainability and Communications, Donald Pols, just one day after he started the role, citing undisclosed ties to a pro-apartheid student organisation during his youth in South Africa.
Pols, who until recently led the prominent Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie, joined the steelmaker on June 1.
The company announced his immediate dismissal this morning, stating that key information had not been provided during the recruitment process.
In a statement, Tata Steel’s board said 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.”
Business director Jessica Mahn has taken over his responsibilities on an interim basis.
Pols, a long-standing climate campaigner who led Milieudefensie’s high-profile legal actions against Shell and other polluters, surprised many when he accepted the senior role at one of the Netherlands’ largest CO₂ emitters.
His move drew sharp criticism from environmentalists, with Milieudefensie describing it as “deeply disappointing.”
Now, it turned out he was involved with a pro-apartheid student group in South Africa when he was 19 years old, the Afrikaner Studente Front (ASF).
This group fought against the ANC party of Nelson Mandela.
Pols, who was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1972, had admitted it to Dutch newspaper NRC, calling it a youthful indiscretion.
“It was reprehensible behaviour; those were wrong views, very wrong views”, he told the newspaper. “There is no justification for it, nor do I seek one. I take responsibility. But in every respect, I am not the person I was back then.”
“Everything was in flux. All social institutions, all forms of identity, all relationships. Nothing was set in stone; everything was up for grabs. I was at a stage in my life where I needed stability, a sense of identity, a sense of community, and connection. I may have been nineteen years old, but I actually had the mind of a teenager. And I chose a path that I now look back on with disgust.”
