More than five years after being disabled with “manganese madness”, several Cato Ridge factory workers are still wondering whether the company will ever face legal action.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe gave a written assurance recently that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) would take a final decision before March 31 on whether to prosecute the Assmang manganese factory for allegedly poisoning scores of workers with toxic levels of manganese dust.
He said the company could also face culpable homicide charges related to the deaths of six workers in a furnace explosion at the factory in 2008.
When The Mercury contacted the prosecuting authority on Monday to find out what was happening, spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson said two more box loads of evidence had arrived after Radebe had made his statement in Parliament.
So the decision had been delayed again.
“We will now have to go through this information before taking a decision on whether to prosecute,” she said.
In March, Radebe said part of the reason for the delay in making the decision was that a box of documentary evidence related to the Assmang prosecution had gone “missing” and would have be to reconstructed.
Ramkisson confirmed on Monday that the missing documents were related to the alleged poisoning of several workers at Cato Ridge, but she did not respond to questions on whether the evidence was stolen or mislaid.
During 2006 and 2007, at least 10 workers were diagnosed with occupational manganism, a Parkinson’s-type disease which can lead to brain damage, tremors and other serious health damage.
Although the company challenged the validity of the diagnosis and sought to appoint a new medical panel to examine scores of similar cases, at least 10 confirmed cases were accepted by the compensation commissioner.
Assmang is jointly owned by mining mogul Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Minerals group and by Assore Limited. - The Mercury