Johannesburg - A South African court has allowed thousands of former mineworkers to proceed with a class action seeking damages from mining companies for lung diseases they contracted while working at their operations.
“Class action is the only realistic option through which most mineworkers can assert” their constitutional rights, Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo said at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Friday. If it hadn’t been authorised, “impoverished, indigent workers won’t be able to access justice”, he said.
Current and former underground mineworkers who contracted silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis constitute the class, as do families of employees who have died from the diseases, Mojapelo said.
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The judgment allows as many as 500 000 people to join a suit, he said. The action would sue 32 mining companies for damages caused by unsafe working practices, lawyers for the applicants say.
Silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling dust from mines, causes scar tissue in the lungs, increasing vulnerability to tuberculosis that can kill more than half of sufferers if not properly treated.
Studying judgment
In a separate case, Anglo American’s South African unit and AngloGold Ashanti agreed to pay about R500 million to settle claims from 4 365 former employees who said they contracted dust-related lung diseases while working for the companies.
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The two companies, together with Sibanye Gold, African Rainbow Minerals, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold are studying the judgment and are pursuing a settlement out of court, said Alan Fine, a spokesman for the producers.
They “will decide individually whether to appeal”, he said.
BLOOMBERG