Listeriosis class action: a mother's heartbreaking wait for justice
FOR victims of the listeriosis outbreak like Thenjiwe Dodo from Bloemfontein who lost her child, the frustration amid an ongoing class action lawsuit, seven years after her tragedy, continues. She won’t benefit from the interim assistance announced recently.
Between 2017 and 2018, South Africa experienced the largest outbreak of listeriosis ever reported worldwide at the time, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
The outbreak was declared in December 2018. Of the 1060 laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis reported by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), 216 deaths were recorded.
Listeriosis is caused by a bacterium, listeria, which manifests in a flu-like illness with diarrhoea, fever, general body pain, vomiting and weakness, as well as infection of the blood stream and of the brain.
Dodo had responded to calls on the news for victims to come forward after the Gauteng High Court granted an order permitting a class action lawsuit to be brought against Tiger Brands by Richard Spoor Inc Attorneys and LHL Attorneys Inc, as joint legal representatives of the class with US Law firm Marler Clark LLP.
When Dodo was eight months pregnant in 2018, with her miracle baby after trying to start a family for eight years, tragedy struck.
She said eating polony was a way to make sure she and her unborn child were nourished and Tiger Brands products were trusted and viewed as of high quality.
“Everything was well, the baby would play every morning, then one morning I could feel the baby wasn't playing like he used to.
“I first went to a private doctor, and he told me everything was okay. I went back home but the following day it was the same thing, then I decided to go to hospital,” she had said.
When Dodo got to the hospital, she was in pain and doctors informed her she was having labour pains.
She gave birth two days later on February 19, 2018, to baby Nkanyezi.
“Immediately after giving birth, the baby was not crying. They took him away and he was in the ICU and I was in the labour ward. I remember 12 hours after giving birth, that was when I could see my baby.”
At three days old, doctors told Dodo that Nkanyezi had listeriosis and could not breathe on his own.
Doctors tried antibiotics which Dodo was hopeful would help at the time. By day 11, Nkanyezi’s condition deteriorated and he was on life support.
At 16 days old, Nkanyezi passed away.
Earlier this week Tiger Brands, Richard Spoor Inc and LHL Attorneys announced that they had reached an agreement for advance payments to be made to the first of a number of persons who are seeking “interim assistance to address urgent medical needs while the class action continues”.
The class action, which is being managed in two stages, is still at the first stage during which liability is to be determined by the court.
“Only if Tiger Brands is found to be liable will the issue of causation arise, in the second stage of the class action, as well as an assessment of compensation payable to qualifying claimants for damages suffered,” Tiger Brands and the lawyers said in a joint statement.
In late October 2024, Tiger Brands reported that the company’s attorneys were engaging with Richard Spoor Inc and LHL Attorneys, to agree on relief for qualifying individuals who have urgent medical needs, regardless of the fact that liability has not yet been determined.
The parties said they were also engaged in discussions to extend the relief to other qualifying claimants who are in a similar position.
For Dodo, the announcement brought little joy, as it had already been several years of waiting for some sort of justice.
“We had to bury my son, now the case is dragging on, it’s very depressing,” she told the Cape Times this week.
“They are saying they are getting lab testing done and it is at the high court. This relief they said it's for the people that have got hospital bills.
“I feel justice needs to be served. Tiger Brands is a big company. When you buy quality things, it means you trust the brand and with me because I was pregnant, I needed good quality foods. I took the quality of the food I must buy very seriously.
“The hardest thing is that I will never be with my first born again, prayer is what has helped me get through this,” said Dodo.
Richard Spoor, Founding Director of Richard Spoor Inc. said they were glad to have open lines of communication with the defendants at this critical time in the class action.
“This is an important inroad and a first step in the parties’ efforts towards justice for the victims of the listeriosis outbreak. The interim advance payments will go some way towards relieving the acute needs of the recipients,” Spoor said.
“The legal process has proved long and arduous. Even though liability has not yet been determined and Tiger Brands has no legal obligation to provide interim relief at this stage in the class action, the interim advance payment to a number of claimants with urgent needs recognises the debilitating circumstances in which they find themselves. Where the company has been provided with required information and documentation to enable decision-making in the process, we will act swiftly. (This) announcement represents an important milestone,” said Tiger Brands chief executive officer, Tjaart Kruger.
Cape Times