Apartheid: 27 firms to be sued
2002-07-09 13:55
Cape Town - At least 27 companies across Europe have been told claims are to be filed against them as part of a collective claim United States lawyer Ed Fagan is to file on behalf of apartheid victims. Companies facing action include Barclays, Credit Lyonnaise, Royal Dutch/Shell, Westinghouse, Ahmdal, Unisys, Ford and General Motors.
John Sindiso Ngcenetsha, a Johannesburg lawyer who is a member of the apartheid-claims team, says the companies have been given 30 days to respond.
Among apartheid victims Ngcenetsha represents is Dorothy Molefi, the mother of Hector Petersen, one of the first children to die in the 1976 Soweto uprising.
"We intend fighting to the bitter end, since we believe we have a strong case," said Ngcenetsha.
He says six South African legal firms, four US ones, historians and investigative journalists are part of the task team.
Fagan denied on Saturday during a media briefing that he had taken on the case for financial gain.
"Lawyers handling the claims are doing so at their own risk in the hope that they will be paid once the case is completed," he said.
Hope to recoup under court order
Ngcenetsha confirmed lawyers were not being paid for services rendered to their clients.
"All of us, including Fagan, are contributing and investing our own money in the case. If we win, we hope to recover our fees and expenses under a court order," he said.
Asked whether it would not be cheaper to hear the case in South Africa, Ngcenetsha said most of the companies involved had headquarters in the United States.
"It is logical for the case to be tried in that country. It gives us easier access to archives and the companies' documents.
"And we are directed by the US system of taking the case on commission in terms of which lawyers waive fees if they lose and are entitled to a percentage of the claim if they win.?
Ngcenetsha claims Fagan earned a mere 1.8% in fees and 0.2% in expenses for the Holocaust claims case.
2 000 claimants have made contact
In the late 1990s, Fagan managed to win a claim for $1.25bn (about R13bn) against Swiss banks and companies on behalf of Jewish holocaust victims.
At the news briefing, he denied giving South African claimants false hopes. More than 2 000 victims had contacted the task team to date.
Molefi filed the first of a series of claims in mid-June in Zurich, Switzerland.
A collective claim on behalf of apartheid victims was filed in New York on June 17. The case is expected to carry on for five years.