Anglo American Faces Class Action Suit for Miners' Lung Diseases

Protracted narratives of anguish and suffering of former miners have inspired a comprehensive class action suit filed by Richard Spoor Inc against nine mining companies owned by Anglo American. This suit includes impressive cross-sections of current workers, retired employees, and the families of deceased miners.

Ntombi Mahlangu, a former mineworker with the corporation, reignited the conversation by expressing her gratitude towards Richard Spoor Inc, attributing the company's lack of accountability towards their workers' well-being as the driving force behind the class action suit. The legal suit, filed in Gauteng Local Division’s High Court in mid-October, lists key mining companies like Thungela’s Operations and Resources Division, Rietvlei Mining, Mafube Coal Mining, Butsanani Energy Investment Holdings, and South Africa Coal Operations as defendants.

These miners are grappling with severe health conditions, primarily coal workers pneumoconiosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which are direct outcomes of prolonged exposure to coal mine dust. The act of negligence and undermining the duty of care towards the miners is the crux of the class action suit, as remarked by Chloe Hoffmann, associate at Richard Spoor Inc.

The lawsuit aims at amplifying voices of the ailing miners and seeking compensation for the medical treatments, pain, suffering, and other personal and financial predicaments the miners and their families have faced due to the illnesses contracted from the mines.

Notice of the suit was issued to Anglo American, according to Sibusiso Tshabalala, media liaison for the corporation. Upon receipt of the application, the company will delineate an official position. Similarly, Thungela acknowledged Elvis Sithole's receipt of the notification and articulated the company's intention to consider its ramifications.

Richard Spoor Inc, along with one of the largest plaintiff litigation firms in the US, Motley Rice LLC, had previously introduced a similar case against several defendants including Harmony Gold, that led to a rewarding compensation for gold miners and their families for silicosis developed due to silica dust exposure in the mines.