Anglo American and Gold Fields have rebuffed an offer by Anglican Archbishop Ndungane Njongonkulu to mediate in a lawsuit against the companies for alleged human rights abuses during apartheid.
Anglo and Gold Fields, which are only two of the mining companies targeted, said they had been approached to meet Njongonkulu, who sought an out-of-court resolution on the cases. The archbishop was said to be approaching all the mining companies named in the apartheid suits.
U.S. lawyer Ed Fagan initiated proceedings in the U.S. federal court to sue Anglo for US$6 billion for its role in apartheid. In early May, he filed another, US$7-billion, class-action case against Gold Fields in a New York state court.
The suits followed the release of a report by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up by the South African government to deal with what happened under apartheid.
The case against Gold Fields is different from the other companies in that the lawyers were seeking compensation for the alleged exposure of more than 500 “former employees to dangerous working conditions leading to uranium contamination.”
Gold Fields and Anglo American have secondary listings on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, respectively. Both companies have said they do not recognize the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts.
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