LOOKING back on our jurisprudence since 1993, when the interim Constitution was enacted, there are some profound moments, moments that changed the course of history. One of these was the day the Constitutional Court outlawed the death penalty, confirming a fundamental shift in the way SA saw itself.There are others. But I think one of them will be the judgment deciding whether silicosis sufferers may institute a class action against SA’s gold mining companies for their debilitating illnesses. A few weeks ago at a media conference, former Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) commissioner Yasmin Sooka was lamenting how business had not properly been held to account for its role in propping up apartheid.In the TRC report’s chapter on business and labour, the mining industry is one of the sectors singled out for criticism. The report says the involvement of the mining houses in "shaping" the migrant labour system was "the clearest example of business working closely with the minori...
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