Friday, May 13, 2016
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s High
Court gave the go-ahead Friday for as many as half a million miners and
ex-miners to file a class action suit against 32 gold mining companies.
The miners say they contracted the lung diseases silicosis and
tuberculosis working in the mines.
“Historic” is how Charles Abrahams, a lawyer representing the miners,
describes the court’s decision to allow South Africa’s largest-ever
class action suit to proceed.
He spoke to VOA from the steps of the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg shortly after the ruling.
“I think that what this means is that law, in the context of the social
struggle of people and particularly, in this context, mining
communities, can play a very important role in advancing the struggles
through the right litigation. And today we’ve seen, that this is exactly
what happened today,” said Abrahams.
A three-judge panel ruled Friday that hundreds of thousands of miners
and their families can seek redress from some of the world’s largest
gold mining corporations after they contracted painful, often-deadly
lung diseases in the mines.
The panel split the case into two classes: those who contracted silicosis and those who contracted tuberculosis.
A group representing the mining firms said in a statement that the
companies are studying the ruling and will decide individually whether
to lodge an appeal.
Abrahams says he’s confident of victory in the class action suit.
But, he notes, today’s victory is bittersweet. The case’s original
plaintiff, Thembekile Mankayi, died of silicosis a week before the
Constitutional Court ruled in 2011 to allow his precedent-setting case
to proceed. That case developed into today’s class action.
“Hopefully through today’s judgment, Mrs. Mankayi and Mr. Mankayi’s
children and his dependents could look forward to some form of
compensation from the mining company for which Mr. Mankayi worked ,”
said Abrahams.
Abrahams says that this is not just a legal victory, but a social
victory for South Africa’s workers who have long fought for justice and
equality during and after the racist apartheid system. Taking the
struggle from the streets to the courts, he says, is a sign of progress.
The lawsuit, however it proceeds, is likely to have an economic impact.
South Africa's statistical agency says that mining accounts for more
than 8 percent of the nation’s economy.