A Very Long Wait for Enlightenment
I always knew there was something Quixotic about the confrontation of British mining conglomerate Cape Asbestos by thousands of South Africans from poor mining communities in the late 1990s; just how epic the battle was has taken me 30 years to fully appreciate. The publication of a new book – In A Rain of Dust, Death, Deceit and the Lawyer who Busted Big Asbestos – was a revelation with its tale of corporate crime, apartheid capitalism, boardroom clashes, vulture funds and a cast of characters including not only the thousands of South Africans injured by Cape but also scores of lawyers, politicians, trade unionists – even Arthur Scargill got a mention – community leaders, historians, political activists, photographers, medical, scientific and technical experts.
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David Kinley’s narrative described events which taken collectively were reminiscent of a 19th century Italian opera. The emotional story at the heart of the book was dramatic and many of the episodes recounted were worthy, on their own, of a Netflix mini-series. Orchestrating every move in this ground-breaking and logistically challenging legal offensive was: Richard Meeran.
London-based human rights lawyer Meeran began work on the case against Cape in 1995. He had no prior knowledge about asbestos but had successfully pursued another UK corporation – Thor Chemicals – on behalf of South African factory workers injured by exposures to mercury.
Cape Asbestos – a major player in the global asbestos industry – had legal precedent on its side as well as the best lawyers money could buy. They were, so the company directors thought, invincible. They were wrong.
 International asbestos giants including Cape, Eternit, Johns-Manville and T&N colluded to fix prices, divide global markets, suppress adverse scientific discoveries and cover-up damning medical evidence about the asbestos hazard. |
As it turned out, the top tier defense lawyers and ruthless maneuvers of the Cape Board of Directors were outplayed by this rookie asbestos litigator in a battle that set off alarm bells in corporate boardrooms around the world. It was bad enough that Cape was held liable for the damage it had done overseas but worse was to come with the reputational damage caused by media coverage and public interest generated by public exhibitions of the devastating photographs by Hein du Plessis depicting the human cost of Cape’s profits.1
 Photograph taken in South Africa’s asbestos heartland by Hein du Plessis. Picture reproduced by kind permission of the photographer. |
By the time the final resolution of the Cape case was achieved in 2004, thousands of clients had become part of this multijurisdictional class action. Kinley’s 344-page book reads like a best seller as it unravels the twists and turns of the titanic legal battle which was Afrika et al. v. Cape Plc.
This book joins the pantheon of other English-language classics which stripped away carefully crafted corporate façades to show the ugly reality which laid behind asbestos industry profits. The gripping story of how a young lawyer succeeded in “piercing the corporate veil” to hold a British multinational to account is not only a riveting read but also a timely reminder of the consequences of an industrial legacy that continues to cause death and destruction on a global scale.
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| Classic English language Exposés of the Deadly History of the Asbestos Industry | ||||
It is noteworthy to point out that of the books shown above, five were published in the 20th century and five in the 21st.2 With no additions to this canon of work in the 16 years since Killer Dust eviscerated the Australian Asbestos Giant James Hardie, it is almost as if researchers had run out of things to say about asbestos. David Kinley’s new book gives a lie to that theory.
The epigraph on page v at the front of “In a Rain of Dust” reads: “Semper in tenebris lux.” I am reliably informed by Mr Google that this Latin phrase translates as “always light in darkness.” But for the work of Richard Meeran and his colleagues, the wait for daybreak would have been even longer.
Summing up the importance of this addition to the pantheon of English language asbestos history classics, UK asbestos victims’ campaigner John Flanagen said in a press release earlier this week:
“This new book has a relevance not just to those of us fighting for the rights of the asbestos-injured but to everyone concerned about human rights, environmental justice and corporate responsibility. The recording of this David & Goliath struggle was well worth telling and David Kinley did a masterful job in telling it.”3
Amen to that!
May 15, 2025
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1 While 20 pages of Du Plessis’ pictures situated between pages 126 and 127 of Kinley’s book convey the substance and artistry of the photographs they lack the forceful impact of the full-size images. The black and white images and their first-person captions gave a powerful voice to the individuals in the photographs. The exhibition: The Poisonous Legacy of Cape Plc was warmly received whether it was shown in university canteens or foyers, church halls, embassy reception rooms, theater lobbies, or Parliamentary chambers. I was privileged to facilitate the exhibition of this work in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Osasco, Brazil, Athens, Greece and London. The photographs were also shown throughout South Africa and elsewhere in the UK: Bristol, Warwick, Harrogate and Glasgow.
2 The titles, authors and dates of publication of the books shown above are: Expendable Americans by Paul Brodeur (1974), Asbestos: Killer Dust by Alan Dalton (1979), Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects by Barry Castleman (1984), Asbestos. Its Human Cost by Jock McCulloch (1986), Blue Murder by Ben Hills (1989), Magic Mineral to Killer Dust by Geoffrey Tweedale (2000), Lethal Work by Ronnie Johnston and Arthur McIvor (2000), Asbestos Blues by Jock McCulloch (2002), Defending the Indefensible by Geoffrey Tweedale and Jock McCulloch (2008) and Killer Company by Matt Peacock (2009).
3 Joint Press Release. A Day to Celebrate! May 13, 2025.
https://ibasecretariat.org/press_release_a_day_to_celebrate.pdf
