Contributions from the South African Judiciary: Developing (and Decolonizing?) Business and Human Rights

Business and human rights class litigation in South Africa has increased over the last ten years. Through the analysis of Various Parties on behalf of Minors v Anglo American South Africa Limited (2020/32777) (2023) ZAGPJHC 1474 (Kabwe) and silicosis class action litigation, the author examines how the South African judiciary has contributed to the advancement of business and human rights objectives. The piece traverses the purposive statutory interpretation approach of the court and incremental development of class action certifications to contribute to this outcome. It is argued that the rejection of the opt-out class participation mechanism for a wholly foreign class in Kabwe represents a missed opportunity to further transnational corporate accountability in certification applications by using key tenets of Ubuntu and decolonization. Such an interpretation would have offered a compelling pathway for localizing the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in the African context.