Special Assignment: The human toll of South Africa’s gold mining industry

The human toll of South Africa’s gold mining industry is laid bare in this heart-wrenching Special Assignment documentary. Thousands of former mineworkers return from the goldfields – penniless and broken. Sick with an incurable lung disease, the former miners made history last year when a landmark high court decision certified South Africa’s first ever class action, paving the way for sick former goldmine workers to sue the entire gold mining industry for compensation. But the mining companies are now challenging this before the Supreme Court of Appeal – while time runs out for the sick men and their desperate families. This 30-minute documentary brings to light the moving stories of the wives and daughters who are left with the burden of caring for these sick men.