Remnants of asbestos mine still a

Residents at a former asbestos mining site in the Northern Cape are urging the government to rehabilitate and close the mines as they remain at risk of contracting asbestos-related diseases, years after the operation shut down.

- Aarti Bhana

The Koegas asbestos mine, located in close proximity to the community of Prieska and Marydale, was owned by the now-liquidated Cape Plc. The England-based asbestos mining company had run operations in South Africa since the 1920s, where mostly black and coloured mineworkers were subjected to unsafe working conditions.

These workers contracted deadly diseases, including asbestosis and mesothelioma, as a result of inhaling the fine fibres of asbestos while working in the mines, or stamping them at the mill in Prieska.

Asbestos is an industrial mineral mainly used in building materials like insulation, roofing, and flooring, as well as in automotive parts like brake linings. The manufacturing, import, selling and use of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials was banned in South Africa in 2008 due to its harmful nature. Its use is also prohibited in the United Kingdom, countries across the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Chile.

In 1995, British lawyer Richard Meeran represented the thousands of workers who contracted asbestos-related diseases (ARD) in the House of Lords, the then highest court of appeals in the UK. A settlement was reached for the mineworkers in 2004. Cape Plc's operations in South Africa ceased in 1979, and it eventually got sold.

In a recently published book, In a Rain of Dust: Death, Deceit, and the Lawyer Who Busted Big Asbestos, Australian author David Kinley brings the issue back to light by documenting the story of the people who suffered at the hands of Cape Plc and the subsequent court case.