Swiss commodity trading and mining company Glencore has been served with court papers by Richard Spoor Incorporated (RSI) for allegedly breaching their duties to mineworkers in South Africa.
RSI yesterday launched its fourth and final application for certification of a class action against coal mining companies for their alleged breach of duties to mineworkers.
The human rights law firm said in a statement it had filed the class action yesterday against Glencore Holdings in South Africa at the Gauteng Division of the High Court.
This follows previous similar applications this year by RSI against South32 Group, the Anglo American Group and the Exxaro Group.
RSI said it sought justice and compensation for mine workers who contracted lung diseases while working in the mines.
The thousands of miners represented in each case have contracted coal mine dust lung diseases, such as pneumoconiosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), due to high exposure to coal mine dust in mines.
These long-term diseases affected the miners’ ability to breathe, work, and lead a normal life.
“Through these class actions, RSI aims to collectively represent mineworkers for compensation during their lifetime or for the dependants of mineworkers who died from the disease,” the law firm said.
Glencore, formerly Xstrata, is a multinational mining company headquartered in Switzerland. It began its mining activities in South Africa in 1988, with four coal operations in Mpumalanga.
Glencore yesterday declined to comment when contacted by Business Report.
RSI said the class action was against companies that form part of or are related or connected to the Glencore group. Notably, the earliest mine owned and/or operated by Glencore-affiliated companies is Albion Colliery, operational from 1965.
“The company recently decided to exit the coal mining business, including the South African coal market, to pursue more green energy projects. However, this decision does not exempt it from historical wrongs against coal miners in the 35 years since its existence in South Africa,” it said.
Explaining further, representing lawyer Richard Spoor said, “This litigation is not an anti-mining thing. It’s addressing a legacy, and it’s addressing really bad things that were done or not done that have had very severe consequences for a very large number of people, and we are trying to get some redress and balance out of that.”
He said RSI’s claim against Glencore was based on delictual causes of action for their wrongful breach of duties to the mineworkers under the common law, applicable legislation, and the Constitution of the South Africa.
RSI alleged that members of the coal mining industry had failed to provide workers with adequate training, equipment, and a safe working environment, resulting in their illnesses.
Motley Rice, one of the largest plaintiffs litigation firms in the US, is consulting with the employees; legal representatives, while the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) initiated and supported the investigation with the respective miners.
Father Stan Muyebe of the SACBC said, “Multinational mining corporations often pride themselves in being good corporate citizens. Glencore and other multinational mining corporations should remember that, in the context of Africa, the demands of corporate citizenship include responsibility to respect human rights and the duty to remedy adverse human rights impacts.
“From an ethical point of view, until such a time that Glencore and other coal mining companies rise up to offer reparation to sick miners, they should consider themselves as entities doing business without a social license to operate. Mining should not only be about profits. It should also be about integral human development,” Muyebe said.
It is not the Swiss commodity trader’s first dance with the law.
Last year Glencore’s ran foul of the law via its subsidiary Glencore Energy UK. It was ordered to pay £281 million (R667m) in the UK for its role in bribing officials in West Africa in exchange for lucrative oil contracts.
It also had to pay a $1.1bn (R21bn) US settlement.
The company pleaded guilty to seven counts under the Bribery Act 2010, following illicit payments related to oil transactions in Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, as well as failing to prevent bribery in Equatorial Guinea and a then-newly independent South Sudan.
BUSINESS REPORT