UN experts can intervene in Kabwe lead poisoning class action, Joburg high court rules

The high court in Johannesburg has ruled that a group of United Nations experts can intervene in a dispute over the authorisation of a class action lawsuit against Anglo American South Africa on behalf of victims of lead poisoning in Kabwe, Zambia.

Last week, the court ordered that the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights; Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights; Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; as well as the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls be admitted as amici curiae — friends of the court — in an application to certify the class action.

Mbuyisa Moleele Attorneys, a Johannesburg-based law firm and Leigh Day, an international law firm specialising in human rights and mass environmental tort claims, are representing 13 claimants on behalf of 140 000 children and women of child-bearing age who were allegedly victims of environmental contamination by Anglo’s mine in Kabwe. They filed the class action lawsuit against Anglo in October 2020.