An attorney with the Center for Applied Legal Studies said that to their knowledge, this was the first case of its kind to be brought to the global south.
FILE: Anglo American denies responsibility, and says it never owned or operated the Kabwe mine. Picture: © beangeled81/123rf.com
JOHANNESBURG – Lawyers say a class action bid against Anglo American South Africa currently underground in the Joburg High Court could set a precedent for holding locally registered corporations liable for their activities in other states.
Human rights lawyers acting on behalf of ten children and two young women from the Zambian mining town of Kabwe, one of the most polluted places on earth, have instituted a massive class action bid against Anglo.
They want Anglo held responsible for a potential 140,000 cases of lead exposure in the communities surrounding the Kabwe mine because of its historic involvement with the mine.
Decades after the mine was closed, children in particular still have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood as a result of the enduring contamination.
Anglo American denies responsibility, and says it never owned or operated the mine. The certification hearing kicked off earlier this month and is set to wrap up this week.
Ariella Scher is an attorney with the Center for Applied Legal Studies and represents Amnesty International and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, who are amici curiae or friends of the court in the certification application.
They considered this an “incredibly novel” case.
“In South African courts and law nothing like this has ever been attempted. A corporation that’s registered in South Africa, we then call South Africa its home state, it’s never been sued for its actions in a foreign State so here Zambia and we call it the host state,”
Scher also said that to their knowledge, this was the first case of its kind to be brought into the global south.
Their submissions intended to assist the court focus on international human rights law.
“We say international human rights law provides a lot of those answers.”
Scher said international instruments enshrined a right to remedy, and recognized a duty on State to ensure corporations registered in their jurisdictions were operating appropriately, as well as on the corporations themselves.
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