Anglo American Plc, the world's second-biggest mining company, and diamond
producer De Beers face a $US6.1 billion ($A10.1 billion) lawsuit by former
employees who say they were enslaved, beaten, and tortured under apartheid.
Black workers were "starved, forced to go without water, beaten or
tortured", according to the lawsuit, to be filed in a Nevada court.
The companies supported and profited from the former South African regime's
system of racial discrimination, which the United Nations called a crime
against humanity, the suit says.
The action was filed by a group of lawyers including New York lawyer Ed
Fagan, who was involved in suits that won a $US1.25 billion judgement
against Swiss banks for victims of the Holocaust and a $US5 billion award
to compensate slave labourers in Germany during World War II.
Lawyers representing black South Africans have already filed at least three
other suits in New York courts against Citigroup, General Motors, UBS AG
and 19 other companies, alleging that they helped the apartheid government
that killed and tortured its opponents to maintain white minority rule.
"Anglo American strongly rejects the efforts made by US lawyers and others
to use US courts to resolve important issues for South Africa's future,"
Anglo said in a statement.
The lawsuit had been delivered to Anglo American, the company said.
The lawyers were also expected to announce details of a plan to sue Sasol
Ltd, which supplies about 44 per cent of South Africa's motor fuel, and
Fluor Corp, a Californian engineering company.
The lawsuits are based on an American law that allows citizens of other
countries to file claims regarding human-rights abuses against companies
that do business in the US.
-Bloomberg
http://theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/05/1049459858337.html
