Human rights lawyers representing coal mineworkers have filed a class action lawsuit against mining companies South32, BHP and Seriti Power.
They are seeking “legal remedies for sick miners and the families of workers who died due to coal mine dust lung disease” and associated illnesses.
The application for certification of a class action was filed by human rights law firm Richard Spoor Inc in the high court in Johannesburg.
Spoor said the papers filed on Tuesday are an application for the three defendants to approve a class action.
“It is a strategic step. The companies must now decide if they want to oppose the idea of a class action,” he said.
They also plan to file similar actions against Exxaro, Glencore and Anglo Coal. (In 2021 Anglo American completed the demerger of its thermal coal assets in SA to Thungela.)
Spoor told Business Day the class action is being brought by 17 class representatives, but he could not confirm the number of families and individuals who will join the class action, and so could not provide a reliable estimate of the total value of compensation that will be claimed.
It is proposed in the founding affidavit that individual claims be quantified based on the period a miner worked, loss of earnings and future medical expenses, among other things.
“Over the last several years we criss-crossed the country and interviewed and medically examined about 1,500 former mineworkers. We know that there are many sick workers out there, but we don’t know how many people each of the companies employed and for how long those workers worked on those mines,” he said.
Breached duties
Motley Rice, one of the largest plaintiffs’ litigation firms in the US, will support the workers’ legal team as consultants.
The applicants want to hold South32, BHP and Seriti Power responsible for actions from March 12 1965 to the present. They argue that the mining companies breached the legal duties owed to the miners by failing to implement statutorily mandated procedures and protections. The miners thus developed incurable lung diseases.
On Tuesday Seriti, a key thermal coal supplier to Eskom, confirmed it has been served with papers by Richard Spoor Attorneys regarding an intended class action over occupational diseases related to coal dust.
“The company will comment further once it has had an opportunity to study the papers and consult with its legal advisers.”
South32, which owned and operated SA Energy Coal from 2015 to 2021, also confirmed it was “served with an application for certification of a class action on behalf of certain mineworkers at coal mines in SA”.
The matter is being considered, it said.
A spokesperson for BHP, which has not held mining interests in SA since the demerger of the South32 business in 2015, said the group has seen the media release but does not have any further details.
“Once we receive the claim, we will give it appropriate consideration,” BHP said.
The case is initiated by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. With Michelle Gumede
With Michelle Gumede
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