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Southern Africa

Church to initiate class action against miners in South Africa

August 17, 2023

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The Catholic Church is initiating a class action against mining companies in South Africa on behalf of coal miners who suffered from lung disease. This was revealed by the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference(SACBC). Lawyers filed papers with South Africa’s High Court recently

The Catholic Church is initiating a class action against mining companies in South Africa on behalf of coal miners who suffered from lung disease. This was revealed by the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference(SACBC).Lawyers filed papers with South Africa’s High Court recently.

Ex-mine workers are no longer members of trade unions. They lack the means and capacity to seek legal recourse from large companies which are responsible for their lung diseases, said a spokesperson for Bishop’s Conference. He added that the Church was extending assistance, wherever it could to empower them (ex-workers) to access the judiciary to put across their grievances and seek remedies

The case targets global mining giant BHP, its spin-off South32 and South Africa’s Seriti. The suit is filed by 17 former and current mine workers, but seeks recourse for all miners who worked for these companies since 1965 and contracted lung disease, as well as dependents of workers who died from coal dust-induced illness. Coal mining companies said that they were notified of the class action. The church said it initiated and facilitated the case after it was approached by mine workers for assistance.

The coal sector employs 100,000 people and accounts for 80%of electricity production. The industry is concentrated in the eastern Mpumalanga region which Greenpeace says has some of the dirtiest air in the world. The workers alleged in their pleading that despite knowing the risks to coal miners, the companies failed to provide their workers with adequate training, equipment, and a safe working environment.