 On October 24, 2008, Michael Hausfeld's firm Hausfeld LLP, filed an amended claim in the Khulumani apartheid litigation. The amended claim is officially cited as First Amended Complaint for Docket MDL No.02-md-1499 (JES); Jury Trial Demanded, Class Action.
The amended civil claim identifies as the plaintiffs in the litigation Khulumani, the plaintiff organisation that provides assistance to victims of apartheid atrocities, on behalf of itself, and thirteen individual plaintiffs or “class plaintiffs” on behalf of themselves and all other individuals similarly situated.
The class plaintiffs identified in the amended claim are Sakwe Balintulo, Dennis Brutus, Mark Fransch, Elsie Gishi, Lesiba Kekana, Archington Madondo, Mpho
Masemola, Michael Mbele, Catherine Mlangeni, Reuben Mphela, Thulani Nunu, Thandiwe Shezi and Thobile Sikani. These persons are either personal representatives of victims of extrajudicial killing or are direct victims of the crimes of torture, prolonged unlawful detention and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of international law, that were perpetrated by the security forces of the apartheid regime between 1960 and 1994. The eight defending corporations in this class action are Barclays National Bank Ltd, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company, Fujitsu Ltd, General Motors Corporation, International Business Machines Corporation, Rheinmetall Group AG and Union Bank of Switzerland AG. They are charged with knowingly aiding and abetting the South African security forces or of participating in a joint criminal enterprise in furtherance of the crimes of apartheid, listed above. Why an ammended claim? The original claim was a damages claim brought in the name of Khulumani Support Group as an organisation together with 87 named plaintiffs. This claim was brought against 23 corporations with a presence in the United States, who aided and abetted the perpetration of gross human rights violations in South Africa. As with the amended claim, the suit invokes the Alien Tort Claims Act. The amended claim is a class action which provides for the inclusion of all individuals who fit the categories of extrajudicial killing, torture, prolonged unlawful detention and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of international law. This means that every individual similarly situated as a victim of one of these categories of gross human rights violation, will be included in the claim, even although they are not personally named in the claim, hence the value and significance of the Khulumani Apartheid Reparations Database (KARD).
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