South African union federation welcomes court ruling on silicosis class suit

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on Friday welcomed the decision by the Johannesburg High Court to allow silicosis sufferers to institute class action against mining companies.

"This is huge victory for the thousands of former mineworkers, who contracted silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis in the mines. COSATU encourages all affected miners and families of the deceased miners to ensure that they join this class action against these gold mining companies," the national federation said.

In a landmark ruling on Friday, the court gave the green light to miners suffering from silicosis to go ahead with their class action suit against 32 mining companies.

The court said a consensus has been reached that there are sufficient common issues to justify the class action.

There will be two classes for silicosis and for TB, Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo told the court.

"All the mining companies are accused of failing to protect health of the employees when they were legally bound to do so and as a result causing (the mine workers) to contract TB and silicosis," Mojapelo said.

This will be the biggest class action ever certified in South Africa and could lead to a level of justice for miners whose health was allegedly put at risk for decades despite the industry's knowledge of how to reduce the likelihood of inhaling silica dust.

The class action includes 56 mineworkers who represent more than 25,000 people, but up to 200,000 workers or their families could stand to benefit if the class action is successful.

So many lives have been destroyed by the reckless failure of mine bosses to ensure that mineworkers are not exposed to the silica dust, COSATU national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said.

The mine bosses through greed, mismanagement, short-sightedness and narrow focus on their profits have destroyed the industry and people's lives, he said.

Mining companies have been and are still the biggest beneficiaries of the colonial and apartheid capitalism that still haunts this country's economy, said Pamla.

Some of the companies are currently closing down mines leaving behind a trail of poverty, illnesses and environmental damage, he said.

They are not even retraining their workers or investing in the communities that have hosted them and allowed them to operate their mines, Pamla said.

"Already we have seen over 55,000 jobs lost in the mining industry over the past year.

"COSATU insists that we cannot continue to allow the rapacious mining companies to abandon their responsibilities. They should compensate the victims of the silica dust and also should ensure that there is an industry wide training and retraining scheme that will help miners to posses' useful skills rather than simply being dumped in the unemployment line," Pamla said.

The federation wants the mining industry to be restructured and government should also take 50 percent ownership of all mining companies in the country through a state mining company, said Pamla. Endit