ACTSA statement on Justice for Southern African Gold Mineworkers with Silicosis and Tuberculosis Campaign

In 2012 ACTSA took up the campaign for justice for Southern African gold mineworkers with silicosis and tuberculosis. On 26 July 2019, the South Gauteng High Court approved a class action settlement worth at least R5 billion (approximately £268 million). The settlement establishes the Tshiamiso Trust, which will be responsible for paying compensation to eligible gold mineworkers and their dependents in Southern Africa.

In light of the High Court’s decision, and following discussions with partners in South Africa and in the UK, ACTSA has decided to end its campaign.

We pay tribute to the mineworkers – some of whom have died while awaiting justice – and their families, as well as to the various lawyers and activists that have supported the mineworkers’ struggle. We condemn the mining companies, including the members of the Occupational Lung Disease Working Group, who chose to engage in protracted litigation over so many years instead of negotiating with the mineworkers in good faith.

The class action settlement must be properly implemented. ACTSA will monitor the work of the the Tshiamiso Trust. We are prepared to resume our campaign if our partners call on us to do so.

In an important report published on 8 July 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance stated that “… those peoples who in the past were colonised on the grounds of false claims of their racial inferiority, today continue to bear the greatest cost of the extractivism economy.” ACTSA will continue to explore opportunities to hold extractive industry multinational corporations, as well as national governments and multilateral institutions, to account for their impacts on human rights, equality and sustainable development.