Working group statements

Court hearing on Silicosis and TB settlement agreement begins

Johannesburg, 29 May 2019. The hearing on whether the High Court should approve the settlement agreement reached on 3 May 2018 began on 29 May 2019, in terms of the court’s order of 13 December 2018. Parties to the settlement made submissions to a full bench of the high court, comprising DJP Phineas Mojapelo, Judge Bashir Vally and Judge Leoni Windell, on why the court should approve the settlement. The hearing is schedule to continue on 30 May 2019.

No objections to the settlement were received from members of the settlement classes. Many of the class members have been very positive about the settlement and are eager for the Trust to be established as soon as possible. Approval by the court of the settlement agreement is an important step towards the establishment of the Tshiamiso Trust which will be responsible for processing claims for payment to eligible claimants under the settlement agreement.

Judgment is expected in July 2019, at the convenience of the court. Thereafter, further court-mandated processes will ensue, including large-scale publication of the terms of the settlement. It is hoped that the Trust will be functioning by the end of 2019, with payments under the settlement, to eligible claimants, beginning during 2020.

The agreement provides that there should be seven trustees in total. Three are to be nominated by the companies, two by the claimants’ attorneys, one by government and a consensus trustee nominated by the companies and the claimants’ attorneys jointly.

The settling classes are represented by 48 class representatives with Richard Spoor Inc, Abrahams Kiewitz Inc and the Legal Resources Centre whereas as their joint legal representatives. The companies that are members of the Occupational Lung Disease Working Group are African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater.

For further information contact:

• Prev
• Next