▶️ the post Families Devastated by Tiger Brands Listeriosis Outbreak Petition for Justice appeared first on ©️ Karibu – A Working Class News.
By Listeriosis Families Support Campaign
We, the Listeriosis Families Support Campaign – a collection of families devastated by the 2017/2018 Tiger Brands listeriosis outbreak, the largest listeriosis outbreak in history – call for immediate action.
If we come together to demand justice for those harmed by Tiger Brands, we can ensure they take accountability. Let’s stand in solidarity with victims systematically failed by corporate negligence. #TigerBrandsMustPay
It has been more than six years since the gross negligence of Tiger Brands led to over 200 deaths and more than 1,000 people falling seriously ill with a disease that continues to cause harm, pain and disability. While the listeriosis victims suffer, Tiger Brands has failed to take responsibility for the harm that they have perpetrated. We demand action now!
This isn’t just a legal battle—it’s a fight for social justice, for safe food and for the rights of women and children. Six years on, victims from poor and marginalised communities (mostly Black women and children) are denied the compensation needed for medical care. Many have had their lives shattered and endure insurmountable pain, suffering and ongoing hardship while Tiger Brands and their insurers exploit their vulnerability.
Please join us now to demand justice for the families and particularly the children harmed by the Tiger Brands listeriosis outbreak! We ask you to stand in solidarity with victims suffering under gross corporate abuse. Please spread the word about the actions of Tiger Brands. The nature of this company needs to be understood and we need your help to state firmly that their actions will not be tolerated.
We demand:
- Immediate Accountability: Tiger Brands must publicly apologise to the people it harmed, admit liability, and provide immediate relief to the affected families. Many of them have already lost everything and require urgent medical intervention.
- Social Justice and Compensation: Tiger Brands must compensate victims fairly and swiftly. This case should remind corporations that lives cannot be sacrificed for profit.
- Insurers’ Responsibility: Tiger Brands’ insurers must cease leveraging delays for financial gain. We demand settlement and compensation before the end of 2024. They must indicate what funds they hold to pay victims and the interest they have earned on these funds while sitting on them for 6 years! They need to know that we, too, hold them accountable.
Why is this important?
Of the approximately 1,000 confirmed cases of listeriosis associated with this outbreak, at least 465 were pregnant women who suffered miscarriages, stillbirths or gave birth to children who contracted listeriosis in their mother’s womb. Most of the children born with listeriosis suffer from developmental delays and face lifetime health complications, including hydrocephalus, which is the build-up of fluid in the brain that leads to severe pain and progressive brain damage. As the majority of these children come from low to middle-income Black families who cannot afford the support required for special needs children, these children are suffering each day without the help that they desperately need.
Despite overwhelming evidence, and over six years since the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) linked Tiger Brands to the outbreak, Tiger Brands has failed to take accountability for the harm they caused, prolonging the suffering of their customers, the children born with listeriosis, the mothers who lost children and the families devastated by the outbreak. Tiger Brands insurers, likewise, remain unaccountable. Stalker Hutchison Admiral (SHA Risk Specialists) – owned by one of South Africa’s largest insurers, Santam, a subsidiary of Sanlam – and the QBE Insurance Group continue to delay a settlement. Rather, these insurers are profiting from the funds held to compensate the affected families.
Attached is a link to a short documentary by Daily Maverick on the listeriosis crisis:
