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• South Africa: Business during apartheid

Cape plc: case in U.K. court regarding the company's conduct in South Africa: 

• Less money for mining victims - Cape plc’s South African asbestos victims will get only one-third of the £21-million originally promised them by the British-based multinational. (Justin Arenstein, Mail & Guardian [South Africa], 14 Mar. 2003)

• Black workers to receive £45m asbestos settlement [South Africa] - Thousands of black South African workers suffering from asbestos-related diseases yesterday secured multi-million pound compensation deals from two leading mining companies, after six years of legal wrangling in London and Johannesburg. British company Cape has agreed to pay £7.5m in compensation to 7,500 workers, and Gencor, a South African company which took over many Cape operations in 1979, has agreed to set up a trust fund for its workers, worth 448 million rand (£37.5m). Gencor will pay an additional £3.21m to the Cape claimants, who were also exposed to Gencor's operations. (David Black, Guardian, 14 Mar. 2003)

  • SA mineworkers win asbestos payout -...the largest settlement in the country's history. [South Africa] (BBC News, 14 Mar. 2003)
  • Asbestos deal won't bring back the dead [South Africa] - Various organisations said on Thursday nothing would reverse the loss of life and damage suffered by victims of asbestos-related diseases but they welcomed the settlement agreements with Cape plc and Gencor with a mixture of anger and relief. (South African Press Association, in Mail & Guardian [South Africa], 14 Mar. 2003)

• Asbestos Claimants Accept Gencor Offer [South Africa] - Lawyers representing asbestos victims approved a settlement offer from Gencor yesterday...Part of the R460m settlement offer would be set aside for claims against Cape plc (Chantelle Benjamin, Business Day [South Africa], 4 Feb. 2003)

• Asbestos kills, judgment awaits [South Africa] - Herman Kubari is dead...He was the first of 1 600 applicants in a motion in the Johannesburg high court late last year to interdict Gencor, the investment holding company, from unbundling its stake in Impala Platinum and distributing the proceeds to shareholders until sufficient provision had been made for damages actions brought for asbestos-related diseases. (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 30 Jan. 2003)

• Gencor denies it employed asbestos claimants [South Africa] (Ronnie Morris, Business Report, 25 Nov. 2002)

• Gencor opposes class action as 37 seek payment for asbestos-related diseases [South Africa] - SA MINING company, Gencor, has contested the basis for a class action in SA. (Business Day [South Africa], 22 Nov. 2002)

  • Gencor's asbestos liability could be huge, court told [South Africa] - Thousands of mineworkers were exposed to the hazards of asbestos dust and as a result thousands of cases could come before the courts (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 21 Nov. 2002)

• Asbestos victims seek court nod for class action against Gencor [South Africa] - The Johannesburg high court will be asked tomorrow to recognise the right of people suffering from asbestos-related diseases to bring a class action for damages against Gencor, the investment holding company. [refers also to Cape plc] (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 18 Nov. 2002)

• Claimants set to pursue Gencor in UK [UK/South Africa] -...Lawyers for the claimants are apparently re-opening the case because Cape plc failed to pay the first tranche of the settlement on the due date. Gencor has denied any liability arising from claims by asbestos miners (Business Day [South Africa], 14 Nov. 2002)

• Asbestos victims' lawyers carry costs - UK-based company Cape plc reneged on more than just the settlement agreement it had with 7500 SA [South Africa] victims suffering from asbestos-related disease, says London lawyer for the claimants Richard Meeran. Cape plc failed to pay more than £50000, being the costs of a medical review of the claimants, until forced to do after a judgment was obtained against the company. The £20000 in expenses incurred in setting up a trust fund in SA are still outstanding. (Business Day [South Africa], 28 Oct. 2002)

• Gencor mum on asbestos case [South Africa] - Gencor, the mining holding company, said that until it had papers served upon it in South Africa, it had no comment on the decision by the English High Court to include Gencor as a co-defendant in the asbestos case of Cape plc, the UK building materials company. (Justin Brown, Business Day [South Africa], 16 Oct. 2002)

  • Miners take Cape Plc back to court [South Africa/UK] - Lawyers for sick South African miners said on Monday they would return to court in London on Tuesday in a bid to get building materials firm Cape Plc to honour a settlement it reached with former employees. (Reuters, 14 Oct. 2002)

• Cape avoids justice again - ACTSA [Action for Southern Africa] campaigners protested today outside the Royal Courts of Justice to express their outrage and disappointment at the collapse of the out-of-court settlement between Cape Plc and the 7,500 South African asbestos claimants, which was made last December. (ACTSA - Action for Southern Africa, 15 Oct. 2002) 

• SA asbestos lawyers could face dilemma: Gencor may seek redress from Cape [South Africa] - Lawyers for the 7500 SA victims suffering from asbestos-related diseases will ask the British High Court next week to make Gencor a co-defendant in proceedings against UK-based company Cape plc. (Business Day [South Africa], 8 Oct. 2002)

• Asbestos claim case takes new twist with Gencor: Workers to challenge company's unbundling [South Africa] - The case brought by 7500 SA mineworkers against UK multinational Cape plc took a new twist last Friday when London lawyers joined forces with SA lawyers to challenge the terms of Gencor's proposed unbundling.  Gencor's shareholders are scheduled to meet on Wednesday on whether or not to approve the proposal which provides R409m for the costs of defending asbestos claims, but no provision to compensate victims. (Business Day [South Africa], 30 Sep. 2002)

• Cape Plc fails to pay asbestos claimants [South Africa] - The lawyers of thousands of South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases said on Monday they would return to the United Kingdom High Court in an effort to force mining company Cape Plc to pay overdue settlement claims. (South African Press Association, in Business Report [South Africa], 16 Sep. 2002)  

  • Cape plc's P5.6m goes to banks, not victims [South Africa] - Poor South Africans, thousands of them ill and dying, are unlikely to see a cent from the sale of the manufacturing division of Cape plc, the British multinational they hold responsible for their asbestos-related diseases. (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 16 Sep. 2002)

• Asbestos case: Bankers could be held liable [South Africa] - The bankers of Cape plc, the company that reached an out-of-court settlement with South African asbestosis victims last year, would be held personally responsible if it was proved they were responsible for reneging on the agreement, the victims' legal counsel said on Tuesday. The directors of the company and its bankers, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland, were formally notified of this on Tuesday (South African Press Association, 10 Sep. 2002)

• Asbestos Lawyers Hand Cape a Final Ultimatum to Pay [South Africa] - Lawyers acting on behalf of victims of Cape plc's asbestos operations on Monday handed the multi-national an ultimatum to comply with an out-of-court settlement. (South African Press Association, 2 Sep. 2002)

• Asbestosis victims wait for their millions [South Africa] - Mining company Cape plc is still unable to give a date for the payout of £11-million (about R175-million) in damages due to the 7 500 victims of asbestosis contracted from the company's mines in the Northern Cape. (Peter Fabricius, The Star [South Africa], 5 Aug. 2002)

• Justice sought for workers suffering from asbestosis [South Africa] [regarding trust fund for victims of Cape plc] (Sanchia Temkin, Business Day [South Africa], 23 Apr. 2002)

• UK payout for asbestosis victims: British-based multinational Cape plc is expected to pay a first tranche of £21-million (about R336-million) in June to a trust set up to aid sufferers from asbestos-related diseases in South Africa. (Brendan Seery, Independent [South Africa], 12 Jan. 2002)

• South African Asbestos Victims Settle With Cape: British-based multinational to pay €33.8m/$30.2m (ICEM - International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, 8 Jan. 2002)

  • Asbestosis victims to get first of £21m compensation cash by June (Jacquie Motsoatsoe, Business Report [South Africa], 8 Jan. 2002)

• Cape to compensate South Africa asbestos miners: Building materials firm Cape Plc reached a conditional deal last week to pay 21 million pounds ($30 million) to South African miners who blame it for asbestos-related diseases they contracted in the 1970s. (Rex Merrifield, Reuters, 24 Dec. 2001)

  • Victory for South African asbestos claimants: Cape plc, who mined asbestos in South Africa for several decades, has today finally agreed to a compensation settlement of £21 million for the thousands of South African asbestos victims. (ACTSA [Action for Southern Africa], 21 Dec. 2001)

• Justice delayed for a childhood in asbestos: South Africans seek belated compensation [from British company Cape PLC] for their apartheid-era exploitation (Chris McGreal, Guardian [UK], 4 June 2001) 

• Trial date set, as Cape [British asbestos company Cape PLC] hints at settlement (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], 22 May 2001)

• Cape [British asbestos company Cape PLC] shamed at AGM [annual general meeting] (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], 10 May 2001)

• Apartheid's Killer Legacy [regarding the conduct of British asbestos company Cape PLC in South Africa] (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], Apr. 2001)

• "Landmark Law Lords ruling on jurisdiction over companies" (Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, autumn 2000/winter 2001)

• Global Asbestos Justice: South African Asbestos Victims Win Right to Sue Cape plc in UK Courts (Laurie Kazen-Allen, Multinational Monitor, Sep. 2000)

• "Companies with nowhere to hide" (Richard Meeran [solicitor for claimants], The Times [London], 1 Aug. 2000)

• "Landmark victory for asbestos litigants" (Daily Mail and Guardian [Johannesburg], 21 July 2000) 

• Full text of the House of Lords judgment in the Cape plc case (House of Lords, 20 July 2000)

• "Bringing the Multinationals to Book" (The Observer [U.K.] Comment, 18 June 2000) 

Other lawsuits:

S. African gold firm faces $7 billion suit - Workers at South Africa's second-largest gold mining company [Gold Fields] were tortured, enslaved and poisoned with uranium, according to a $7.4-billion lawsuit filed late on Tuesday in a New York court...In the suit, Mtwesi alleged he and others were "tortured, enslaved, subjected to unfair and discriminatory Slave or Forced Labor practices (and) exposed to toxic and dangerous chemicals, fumes, substances and radioactive materials." (Jeanne King, Reuters, 7 May 2003)

• Archbishop steps into mining case [South Africa] - In a strange twist mining company Gold Fields yesterday confirmed it had been approached to meet Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Njongonkulu Ndungane to try to resolve the claims brought against it for alleged prejudice during the apartheid years. The archbishop was said to be approaching all the mining companies named in the apartheid suits, which have total possible claims of $15 billion against them, to try to resolve the matter before it reached the courts. (Sherilee Bridge, Business Report, 7 May 2003)

• Workers file $7bn uranium lawsuit - South African mining group Gold Fields faces a $7bn (£4.4bn) legal challenge [in a New York court] from former workers, who claim they were contaminated by uranium and have now fallen ill. (BBC News, 5 May 2003)

• Gold Fields faces uranium exposure lawsuit -...Gold Fields said - just as AngloAmerican did last month - that it did not recognise the jurisdiction of the US courts...Under the US Alien Tort Claims Act, foreign citizens can file claims regarding human rights abuses against companies that do business in the US. (Nicol Degli Innocenti, Financial Times, 5 May 2003)

• Gold Fields, the second-largest gold producer in South Africa, will vigorously defend a lawsuit brought against to it by the company's former employees, said company officials on Monday. (South African Press Association, 5 May 2003)

Gold Fields faces $7bn uranium exposure suit - Lawyers acting on behalf of more than 500 former employees of Gold Fields, South Africa's second largest gold producer, will file a suit on Monday in New York seeking damages of up to $7bn. (Nicol Degli Innocenti, Financial Times, 4 May 2003)

• Gold Fields is facing lawsuit for subhuman' working conditions - The apartheid claims task force says it will file a lawsuit for billions of dollars in New York against SA [South African] gold mining company Gold Fields for making blacks work under "subhuman" conditions. (Business Day [South Africa], 2 May 2003)

• Class action suit filed against Gold Fields (South African Broadcasting Corporation, 2 May 2003)

• Gold Fields dismisses lawsuit threats - Bullion producer Gold Fields Ltd said on Friday it would "strenuously defend" itself against a threatened lawsuit seeking damages of up to $7-billion for workers who say they were unfairly treated. (Hilary Gush, Reuters, 2 May 2003) 

{···français} Apartheid: des firmes sommées de réparer - Des plaignants sud-africains réclament des milliards de dollars ( Sabine Cessou, Libération, 12 avril 2003)

US firm faces $1bn claim for complicity [South Africa] - Fluor, the biggest US publicly traded engineering and construction company, faces a $1 billion claim by black former workers who allege they were discriminated against under apartheid. Anglo American, the world's second-biggest mining company, and diamond producer De Beers also face a lawsuit by former employees who say they were enslaved, beaten and tortured under apartheid. Lawyer Ed Fagan said a lawsuit would be filed today in California federal courts. The suit will argue that Fluor paid blacks less than whites and that the company helped repress workers during a 1987 strike in which two were killed. (Jonathan Rosenthal and Antony Sguazzin, Business Report [South Africa], 7 Apr. 2003)

• Anglo stock hit by class action suit [South Africa] - Shares in Anglo American and Sasol fell sharply on Friday after it was disclosed that US lawyer Ed Fagan and local representative John Ngcebethsa were planning to file a class action suit for damages against Anglo and Fluor, a US company that worked with Sasol, for their role in human rights abuses during apartheid. (Max Gebhardt, Business Report [South Africa], 7 Apr. 2003)

• Lawsuits Force Anglo, Sasol Shares Lower [South Africa] - Government does not back the multibillion-dollar lawsuits [in U.S. courts] for apartheid reparations being brought against SA corporate giants, but will also not intervene to stop them, says Justice Minister Penuell Maduna. (Rob Rose & Julie Bain, Business Day [South Africa], 7 Apr. 2003)

• Anglo case to start in New York - The apartheid reparations class action lawsuit, which includes commodity giant Anglo American (Anglo) as a respondent, is set to start May 19 in a New York court...Anglo, along with the world's largest diamond miner De Beers which is 45% held by Anglo, faces a $3.1 to $6.1bn apartheid lawsuit...US construction and engineering group US Fluor Corporation is also facing a claim of between $900m and $1.4bn. (Justin Brown, News24.com [South Africa], 7 Apr. 2003)

• Sasol slumps on apartheid claim [South Africa] (AFP, 7 Apr. 2003)

• Ed Fagan, SA lawyers take aim at Fluor [South Africa] (South African Press Association, in Mail & Guardian [South Africa], 6 Apr. 2003)

• Diamond industry hit by £3bn suit - The maverick lawyer who forced Swiss banks to pay out huge reparations to Holocaust victims yesterday took on the diamond industry, demanding billions of dollars be paid to South African workers "exploited" during the apartheid era. (Fred Bridgland, The Scotsman, 5 Apr. 2003)

• Ed Fagan meets local lawyers and claimants [South Africa] - Local lawyers and US class action lawyer Ed Fagan have announced in Johannesburg that they would be suing US company, Fluor International, for more than $700 million in damages for discriminatory wages paid to the company's employees in South Africa in the 70s and 80s. (SAPA, 5 Apr. 2003)

• Lawyers say to file apartheid suit against Fluor (Reuters, 5 Apr. 2003)

• Anglo Rejects $6bn Reparations Claim [South Africa] - Anglo American has swept aside pressure from a US lawyer that it must provide between $3 and $6 billion in reparations for apartheid-related damages. The group claims that questions of reparations to individuals is a matter for South Africa and its courts, if necessary. In a strongly worded statement issued on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Friday, the UK-listed mining group said it had already made "extensive contributions" to reconciliation and reconstruction in South Africa. (David Mckay, Mineweb [South Africa], 4 Apr. 2003)

Apartheid suit hits shares in Anglo American - Shares in dual-listed mining group Anglo American fell in London and Johannesburg on Friday as news broke of a lawsuit brought against the company on behalf of victims of the apartheid regime. (Rebecca Bream & Nicol Degli Innocenti, Financial Times, 4 Apr. 2003)

Keller Rohrback Announces International Law Suit Filed on Behalf of Apartheid Victims--Makhetha, et al. v. Credit Commercial De France, et al. - The law firm of Keller Rohrback, L.L.P. and other firms in the United States, filed a complaint that seeks to hold French and Swiss banks and other financial institutions responsible for allegedly aiding and abetting the apartheid regime in South Africa...The suit alleges that these banks provided the funding that enabled South Africa to expand its police and security apparatus. (Keller Rohrback L.L.P., 30 Mar. 2003)

Anglo in 'slaves' charge [South Africa] - Mining group Anglo American is facing a multi-billion dollar lawsuit claiming that it profited from collaborating with apartheid-era South Africa. Lawyers representing thousands of victims of the racist regime are to file a legal action this week alleging that the UK-listed Anglo American exploited black workers, seized property and stripped the country of natural resources during the Seventies and Eighties. The legal claim follows a report by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission earlier this month, which singled out Anglo American as a beneficiary of apartheid and urged corporations to compensate victims. Anglo American denies wrongdoing...The lawyers...plan to lodge a complaint in the US courts by Friday. (Conal Walsh, Observer [UK], 30 Mar. 2003)

Gold Mines Could Face Gencor-Type Lawsuits [South Africa] - Spoor said far more workers had silicosis than asbestosis (Business Day [South Africa], 14 Mar. 2003)

Strict International Patent Laws Hurt Developing Countries - What was the South African lawsuit about, and what does it tell us about globalization? [regarding lawsuit filed in 1998 by 39 pharmaceutical companies against South Africa, seeking to stop the government from producing generic drugs to make treatment affordable for the country's AIDS victims; after an international public outcry the companies dropped the lawsuit] (Amy Kapczynski, YaleGlobal, 16 Dec. 2002)

Factory fire: Labour dept also to blame [South Africa] - The labour department also had to share the blame for the tragic loss of 11 lives in a factory fire in Lenasia two years ago, a Johannesburg magistrate said on Monday. Lenasia regional court magistrate Caren Nienaber imposed fines on the owner of ESS Chemicals, Suleman Lachporia (45) and his manager Nezahuddin Ahmod (32). (South African Press Association, 2 Dec. 2002)

• R10 000...That is what this mother's life is worth to the man responsible for her death [South Africa] - Francis Bok, 32, was one of 11 workers who burned to death when the chemical factory in which she was working caught fire on November 17 2000. (Nashira Davids, Sunday Times [South Africa], 1 Dec. 2002)

S Africa shuns apartheid lawsuits: Country needs investment, say ministers, not compensation - The South African government has refused to support a lawsuit against foreign multinationals and banks which allegedly propped up apartheid because it fears deterring investors. (Rory Carroll, Guardian [UK], 27 Nov. 2002)

Claimants set to pursue Gencor in UK [UK/South Africa] -...Lawyers for the claimants are apparently re-opening the case because Cape plc failed to pay the first tranche of the settlement on the due date. Gencor has denied any liability arising from claims by asbestos miners (Business Day [South Africa], 14 Nov. 2002)

Iscor faces court action on pollution - A South African High Court has begun hearing an application by families seeking a court order to stop giant steel producer Iscor from allegedly polluting their underground water sources. (Reuters, 2 Oct. 2002)

Taking on the drug giants [South Africa] - Nontsikelelo Zwedala, an HIV-positive squatter from Philippi in the Western Cape, has joined the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in a move to force two pharmaceutical giants to cut the cost of their Aids drugs. They have filed papers with the Competition Commission, alleging monopolistic abuse of patent power. (Nawaal Deane, Mail & Guardian [South Africa], 19 Sep. 2002)

South Africa: Gagging order lifted - Pollution row goes to open court -...The residents of Vanderbijlpark's Steel Valley say the giant Iscor steel producer - Africa's largest - has polluted their water, degraded their environment and brought sickness to their families for forty years - and they want compensation for their plight. (Index on Censorship, 19 Sep. 2002)

Asbestosis victims take Gefco to court in quest for justice [South Africa] (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 15 Jan. 2002)

• Gefco faces potential lawsuit landslide: The first of possibly several hundred summonses for damages against Griqualand Exploration and Finance Company (Gefco), a Gencor subsidiary, for asbestos-related illnesses was issued by the high court in Johannesburg last week. (Ronnie Morris, Business Report [South Africa], 14 Jan. 2002)