Is Tanzanian Justice System Working or Worthless?

South African High Court Overrules AngloGold in Landmark Silicosis Case

A precedent-setting case for South African miners was won in the nation’s highest court on 3 March. The landmark case is expected to allow thousands of miners stricken with life-threatening respiratory and other diseases to sue companies under common law in South Africa.

The Constitutional Court ten days ago overturned a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement and grants a former AngloGold Ashanti worker the right to sue the company for contracting silicosis. The worker, Thembekile Mankayi, died six days before the monumental ruling, and now it is up to his family whether or not to continue the case.

The Supreme Court and a lower court had ruled against Mankayi because he had received compensation under South Africa’s Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (Odimwa). He had received a paltry R16,320 (€1,706, US$2,350) after it was determined he was ill with tuberculosis and silicosis from AngloGold’s silica quartz dust after working inside the Vaal Reefs mine from 1979 to 1995.

The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a June 2008 Johannesburg High Court ruling dismissing Mankayi’s claim of R2.6 million (€271,800, US$374,400) against AngloGold for lost income and other compensation. Mankayi was seeking the monetary judgement under South Africa’s Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act of 1993 (Coita). In upholding the lower court, the Supreme Court stated that Section 35(1) of Coita barred a worker from bringing a claim against an employer once that worker collected under Odimwa.

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But in the 3 March ruling, Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe ruled that the Supreme Court “had erred in concluding” the two pieces of legislation had the same compensatory structure, adding the difference between the two was apparent.

“If Coida removes Mr. Mankayi’s common law right to claim compensation for negligence, employees in his position … would be left without an effective remedy to rectify the harm caused by the negligence of employers,” Khampepe wrote, adding, “Mineworkers, African (ones) in particular, have contributed enormously to this country’s wealth at great cost to themselves and their health. The impugned legislation affects many vulnerable members of society.”

Judge Khampepe ordered AngloGold to pay the court costs for Mankayi, and the ruling opens the way for his family to return to the Johannesburg High Court to again lay claim to R2.6 million. In a statement following the 3 March judgement, the company said if the executor wishes to pursue litigation there, “AngloGold Ashanti will defend the case on its merits.”

Sadly, Thembekile Mankayi died of the disease on 25 February, leaving a wife and ten children.



ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) hailed the high court’s ruling, calling it an achievement and a breakthrough. “For many years mining employers had sent hundreds of thousands of poor, sick miners home to die,” said General Secretary Frans Baleni. We will remain “at the forefront of ensuring that employers pay for their long forgotten sins.”
http://www.icem.org/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4312-South-African-High-Court-Overrules-AngloGold-in-Landmark-Silicosis-Case

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MiningWatch Canada et al vs. Barrick Gold Corporation Case overview.

1 March 2011

Filed

Human rights violations at Barrick’s Porgera JV Mine

The complaint alleges that Canadian mining company Barrick Gold Corporation has violated the OECD Guidelines in its operations at the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) gold mine in the Porgera valley, a remote region Enga Province in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Barrick has co-owned (95%) and operated the mine since 2006. The other 5% is owned by Mineral Resources Enga (MRE). The complainants contend that Barrick/PJV has violated sustainable development guidelines, environmental guidelines, and the human rights of the local community in a number ways. Over the past two decades, there have been consistent and widespread allegations of human rights abuses committed by PJV security personnel in and around the mine site, including killings and beatings of local Ipili men and beatings and rapes, including gang rape, of Ipili women. Additionally, the living conditions of people within the PJV mines Special Mine Lease Area are incompatible with human health and safety standards and the OECD Guidelines provision on sustainable development. Moreover, in 2009 troops from the PNG Defense Force forcefully evicted local landowners near the Porgera gold mine by burning down houses to allegedly restore law and order in the district. There has never been an investigation of these gross violationsof human rights but the troops remain housed at the mine site and supplied with food and fuel by the mine. In addition, the PJV mine yearly disposes of approximately 6.05 million tons of tailings and 12.5 millon tons of suspended sediment from erodible waste dumps into the downstream Porgera, Lagaip and Strickland river systems, thereby polluting the river and endangering public health and safety of communities along the shores in violation of Chapter V of the Guidelines. The complainants further allege that Barrick/PJV has violated the OECD Guidelines with regard to good governance, promoting employee awareness of and compliance with company policies, and disclosure of information. http://oecdwatch.org/cases/Case_210

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