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History of Asbestos in South Africa
Background on the region of South Africa
South Africa is the southernmost country on the African continent known for its rich, natural beauty, cultural diversity, and robust history. South Africa is theorized to have been where the first modern humans lived over 100,000 years ago.
The prehistoric era of the region can be divided into two technological phases, the Stone Age and the Iron Age. The area has seen the migration, separation, and shared ancestry of African groups over centuries, later involving trade with others along the coasts.
Asbestos Manufacturers were willing participants in the colonialism of Southern Africa.
The 13th century brought Portuguese explorers to South Africa with their goal of finding an alternative route to the silk road leading to China. The 14th and 15th centuries saw the Portuguese returning to trade with local groups, while mapping the African coastline.
In 1652, the Dutch East India Company established a trading post in Cape Town where European settlers gradually established farms in the Dutch Cape Colony. At the time, the Dutch colony at the Cape was the only operational South African port for ships traveling from Europe to the European colonies in the West Indies, establishing itself as a strategic location despite being otherwise economically insignificant. In 1975, the British launched a military expedition against the Dutch Cape Colony, termed the Invasion of the Cape Colony or the Battle of Muizenberg. As a result, the Cape Colony remained under control by the British Empire until 1910 when it gained independence as part of a unified South Africa.
How The Boer Wars Defined Modern South Africa
The Boer Wars erupted as a series of military clashes between the Boers who wanted to maintain their independence and Britain’s desire to unite the British South African territories of the Cape Colony and Natal with the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic, also referred to as the Transvaal. The Boers were a group of farmers in southern Africa who were descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers who arrived in the Cape of Good Hope from 1652.
The First Boer War (1880)
The First Boer War, also known as the First Anglo-Boer War or the Transvaal War, was the first clash between the British forces and the South African Republic Boers. The war was fought from 1880, when the Boers revolted against the British Empire’s attempt to implement an unpopular system of sovereign union in the region, until 1881 when a peace treaty was signed, granting the Boers self-government under British supervision.
The Second Boer War (1899)
The Second Boer War, also known as the South African War or the Second Freedom War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics, consisting of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. The origins of the war are complex and include over a century of conflict between the British and the Boers.
The British Empire’s influence over Southern Africa had long been a problem for the Boers. Conflict further escalated into battle with the discovery of lucrative Witwatersrand gold mines in the Transvaal. The war began in 1899 with a Boer offensive on the British Natal and Cape Colonies and ending in 1902 with the British Empire absorbing the two Boer Republics.
British Colonialism and Cecil Rhodes
With the British extending their influence throughout Southern Africa, the Cape allowed for ease of industrialization of the region’s natural resources. Cecil Rhodes was a British imperialist of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) who paved the way for the annexation of vast areas of land in southern Africa.
In the colonial period, Zimbabwe was named after its colonizer.
In the late-19th century, Rhodes led the charter that ruled Rhodesia, located in modern-day Zimbabwe, until 1923 when Rhodes’ charter was revoked and Southern Rhodesia became self-governing. Even so, Rhodes’ influence had already led to the mass migration of European settlers into the region, and more so, to the mass mining of mineral resources. In 1888, Rhodes founded the De Beers Group, an international corporation that developed the mass mining exploits of the South African coasts.
The Asbestos Mountains
Stretching from Kuruman to Prieska in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, the Asbestos Mountains are a range of hills that were mined during the twentieth century. The mines contained asbestos found as a variety of crocidolite, a sodium-rich member of the amphibole group of silicate materials.
In 1893, serious mining of the area began with open pit quarrying, which led to major problems for those who lived there. By 1918, the area began underground mining, which led to further degradation of the natural landscape and the release of harmful pollutants into the air.
Types of Asbestos in South Africa
Asbestos is defined by a group of naturally occurring fibrous serpentine or amphibole minerals with historical commercial value as a building material due to their high tensile strength and heat resistant properties. There are three types of asbestos minerals found in South Africa: amosite, chrysotile and crocidolite.
Amosite asbestos took its name from South Africa.
Amosite, or brown asbestos, is another type of asbestos that was found in the Asbestos Mountains of South Africa. The term “amosite” is a literal acronym for the “Asbestos Mines of South Africa.”
Ongoing Health Problems & Latency
Asbestos mines continue to pose environmental and health hazards for South Africans.
The Koegas mine, located in the Northern Cape of South Africa, part of the Asbestos Mountains, contained crocidolite or blue asbestos. While operations of the Koegas mine were relatively on a smaller scale, the effects of exposure to blue asbestos posed significant long-term risks for workers.
Many workers died from asbestosis, a severe inflammation and scarring of the lungs from asbestos fibers, and many workers suffered from other asbestos-related diseases. Even residents from the nearby town of Prieska suffered from the environmental effects of asbestos mining.
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If you may have been exposed to asbestos, speak with your healthcare provider about tests and screening to help detect the presence of asbestos fibers and asbestos-related diseases.
Asbestos workers seek legal compensation for injuries in South Africa
In 1988, what began as a lawsuit by five former miners against Cape plc turned into a judicial complication over whether the case should be heard in the British courts or the South African courts. In Lubbe v Cape plc the House of Lords unanimously decided that action would continue in the English courts. However, all of the legal effort up until that point further delayed justice for the plaintiffs.
£21 million settlement for asbestos injuries relating to the Koegas mine in South Africa
By 2001, a decision was made where Cape agreed to pay £21 million in an out of court settlement with the plaintiffs. Furthermore, efforts were made to hide any malpractice of the Koegas mining history. The Legal Services Commission and the South African Government agreed to no longer support any claims against the Cape on the matter, releasing the company of any liability for cleaning up the mine site. The plaintiff’s solicitors were required to destroy all documentation relating to the case.
Resistance to Regulation by Turner & Newall
Turner & Newall was a British manufacturing business that was one of the first companies to industrialize asbestos. The company was founded in 1871, named Turner Brothers, and specialized in manufacturing cotton-cloth based mechanical packing materials. In 1879, it was the first business in the United Kingdom to weave asbestos cloth on an industrial scale, then changing the company name to Turner Brothers Asbestos Company.
Turner Brothers becomers Turner & Newall: Same asbestos
In 1920, the company merged with the Washington Chemical Company, Newalls Insulation Company, officially becoming Turner & Newall (T & N).
By the early 1980s, over 700 claims were filed against T & N over asbestos-related issues. These claims served as documented proof that poor working conditions in T & N’s factories were a direct result of the company’s failure to adapt basic safety rules.
Unfortunately, asbestos was not regulated in the United Kingdom until the 1970s. The Armley asbestos factory, located in a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, polluted the air with toxic dust that covered the surrounding streets and residential houses. By the 1990s, asbestos-related disease claims led to millions in compensation and legal costs for the company.
Turner
Today, T & N has an asbestos trust set up to payout claims. Asbestos trusts were set up by courts to compensate people injured by asbestos. There are still over $30 Billion in asbestos trusts, and anyone who wants to file a claim should speak with an asbestos attorney.
Do You Qualify For Compensation?
Quickly and easily find out how you were exposed by searching W.A.R.D., the largest asbestos database on the planet.
FREE SEARCH >The Danger of Abandoned Asbestos Mines in South Africa and Worldwide
Even with the end of asbestos mining, abandoned asbestos mines remain a health hazard for those nearby and for the environment at large. Residents nearby can still suffer from asbestos-related diseases from dust and fibers in the air, as well as pollutants that make their way into water sources. These toxins are nearly impossible to manage thanks to the existence of open pit mines.
AsbestosClaims.Law
For Justinian C. Lane, getting compensation for asbestos victims is personal.
Justinian’s grandparents and his father all worked with asbestos in their younger years and died from asbestos-related cancers in their later years.
At the time of each of their deaths, no one in Justinian’s family knew that they were eligible to file an asbestos lawsuit and to seek compensation from the asbestos trusts.
Because no one in Justinian’s family knew their options, they never received any compensation for the death of their loved ones.
If you believe that you or your family member’s injury was related to asbestos exposure, you could be entitled to significant compensation.
This is money you could use to cover the costs of asbestos removal services, pay for medical treatment, and preemptively protect your physical well-being.
There are also asbestos trusts that offer compensation much more quickly and easily (without filing a lawsuit.)
If you’d like help with filing a claim, please get in touch by email at [email protected], or call or text us at (833) 4-ASBESTOS (427-2378) or (206) 455-9190. We’ll listen to your story and explain your options. And we never charge for anything unless you receive money in your pocket.
In addition to legal claims, veterans disability, social security and employment protection like workers compensation, FELA and The Jones Act for maritime workers, there are asbestos trusts that have been set up to compensate those harmed by asbestos without having to file a lawsuit.
There is no risk or cost to speak with one of our staff about your asbestos litigation. There are no fees unless you receive money.
If you have any additional questions or concerns related to asbestos, check out our website and YouTube page for videos, infographics and answers to your questions about asbestos, including health and safety, asbestos testing, removing asbestos from your home and building, and legal information about compensation for asbestos injuries.
Introducing the largest database of asbestos information on the planet.
W.A.R.D., which stands for the Worldwide Asbestos Research Database, helps clients to narrow down when and where they may have been exposed, as well as which products may still contain asbestos. W.A.R.D. will also help indicate compensation types and how much a person may be entitled to.
McCulloch, J. (2003). [Review of the book The Way from Dusty Death: Turner and Newall and the Regulation of Occupational Health in the British Asbestos Industry, 1890s-1970]. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 77(3), 739-740. doi:10.1353/bhm.2003.0125.
van Wyk Smith, M. (2003). The Boers and the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) in the Twentieth-Century Moral Imaginary. Victorian Literature and Culture, 31(2), 429–446. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25058635
