Things Fall Apart—Independent Research, Asbestos Litigation and the Gold Miners’ Class Action: 1983–2019

Abstract

AbstractUntil the early 1990s, those who were critical of the South African gold mines found little support. By 1920, the Chamber had fashioned a medical orthodoxy which held that tuberculosis was brought to the mines by recruits, a position from which the industry never wavered. The election of the ANC government in 1994 saw a dramatic shift in the legal possibilities for the victims of occupational injury. The Leon Commission, the first inquiry into occupational health held under majority rule, rejected the Chamber’s orthodoxy. Its final report found that silica dust levels on the gold mines were hazardous, and that they had probably been so for more than fifty years. The dismantling of apartheid also saw the emergence of a loose collective of researchers who worked on occupational disease but had no affiliation with the mining industry. By 2000, their research showed that there was a high incidence of uncompensated silicosis and tuberculosis among former miners, and that even a negligible degree of silicosis was associated with an increased risk of tuberculosis infection. Employing legal precedents forged in successful occupational health litigation by asbestos miners, several legal firms embarked on an unprecedented class action against the gold mining companies. The chapter concludes by outlining the innovations brought about by its recent settlement.