They came on horseback or by foot, trudging through Lesotho’s highlands and clutching tattered identity documents to back their claims that South Africa’s gold mining firms ruined their lungs. On one day in January, about 40 former gold miners and widows crowded into a municipal office in Semongkong, 120km east of Maseru, Lesotho’s capital. They were there to add their thumbprints to the names of nearly 7,000 others who were threatening the biggest class action suit Africa has ever seen. In South Africa the case touches on race, politics and history. The implications for its gold mining industry and for its relations with the government are huge.