Time of essence in mine case

HOW WOULD the addition of two civic organisations into a potentially precedent-setting court case by miners against the gold mining industry affect the timing of the case?

Will the evidence brought by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Sonke Gender Justice – if the court accepts their application to join as amici curiae (friends of the court) – be relevant and different to the 5 000-page record?

These are the questions Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo, and Judges Bashir Vally and Leonie Windell will have to consider in the high court in Joburg in their ruling on the application.

Judgment was reserved yesterday for the legal teams to find common ground on their court timetables.

Counsel for the civil organisations and the gold mines closed their arguments for and against the inclusion, respectively. The main lawsuit is set to be heard from October 12 at the same court.

It was brought by miner Bongani Nkala and 55 others against firms including Harmony Gold Mining Company.

The lawsuit was filed by Richard Spoor Attorneys, Abrahams Kiewitz and the Legal Resources Centre against 32 gold mining companies comprising the country’s entire gold mining industry.

There are two classes, made up of current and former gold mineworkers, silicosis and dependants of those who died as a result of it. There are current and former gold miners who contracted TB and dependants of those who died of pulmonary TB.

Silicosis is caused by inhaling the silica dust produced during blasting operations.