“Ex-mine workers are no longer under trade unions and this renders them voiceless and incapable of demanding social justice for the sickness that they incurred while working in the mines,” Archbishop Stephen Brislin, one of the three Africans named Cardinals last month is quoted as saying in the statement attached to the SACBC August 16 report.
The South African Cardinal-designate adds, “Very often workers do not have the means to seek legal recourse from large companies which have huge resources at their disposal. The Church is always concerned about the well-being of people with whom we work and live.”
“It is thus incumbent on the Church to give assistance where it can so that the rights of the vulnerable are respected and so that they can access compensation that is legally due to them. Many companies are amenable to settling such cases, but in some instances court action is necessary,” the Local Ordinary of South Africa’s Cape Town Archdiocese further says.
In the SACBC August 16 report, the Coordinator of the SACBC Commission for Justice and Peace, Fr Stanslaus Muyebe, is quoted as saying, “The support provided by the Church to the coal-sick miners is one of the ways in which the Church is defending the dignity of workers in the mining economy.”
“Coal mine dust can cause miners to develop lung diseases including pneumoconiosis and COPD,” Fr. Muyebe says, and explains, “Coal miners’ pneumoconiosis is a scarring or fibrosis of the lungs.”
The member of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans-OP) says he finds it unfortunate that despite the lung diseases being preventable, “members of the coal mining industry failed to provide their workers with adequate training, equipment, and a safe working environment, the litigation alleges.”
According to the SACBC Justice and Peace Coordinator, the application against South32 filed on August 15 “is a first step toward obtaining justice for all coal miners who have suffered, often without any form of compensation” since March 1965 to date.
“The applicants argue that South32 breached the legal duties owed to the miners by failing to implement statutorily mandated procedures and protections. As a result, the miners developed incurable lung diseases,” Fr. Muyebe is quoted as saying.
If approved by the High Court of South Africa, he further says, “the litigation will cover coal mine workers and dependents from many regions and rural communities given that miners often travel from afar to gain employment.”
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