Loading ...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 Friday. Otherwise, “impoverished, indigent workers won’t be able to access justice,” he said.
Current and former mineworkers who contracted silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis and the families of employees who have died from the diseases are eligible to join a suit, which may amount to as many as half a million people, Mojapelo 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 organs, increasing vulnerability to tuberculosis that can kill more than half of sufferers if not properly treated.