More than two years after six mining companies agreed to compensate workers afflicted by silicosis and tuberculosis (TB), only about a quarter of a percent of almost 40,000 claims have been paid.
The Tshiamiso Trust is tasked with disbursing R5bn that mining companies agreed to pay sick employees for workplace diseases contracted between 1965 and 2019. It has paid a little more than 100 claims to date.
In 2018, six mining companies and miners’ representatives agreed to the R5bn compensation fund in an out-of-court settlement. This was as another legal process — a class-action suit — involving different categories of claimants was in progress. Aspects of the trust had to be authorised by the court, and this continued over about two years.
The trust itself was established in 2020 to compensate affected mineworkers who suffer from silicosis and TB. The agreement applies to those who worked at 82 gold mines owned by African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater.
“The trust undertakes to continue processing payments as rapidly as is humanly possible,” spokesperson Monako Dibetle said.
Dibetle said on Monday the 102 claimants were paid between R25,000 and R250,000 in damages between late June and the end of July. These payments amount to about R9m, which is a fraction of the trust’s R5bn budget. Where the affected miner is dead, relatives are entitled to compensation.
Dibetle said there was a delay because the trust had to establish offices across Southern Africa for claimants in neighbouring states. The Covid-19 pandemic and the trust deed’s complexities also contributed to the delays, he said. A trust deed sets out in detail who qualifies for a claim and how to calculate their benefit.
Tens of thousands of applicants have lodged claims in SA, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique.
Tshiamiso Trust has 61 centres in five countries. It has a further 11 medical centres where miners undergo tests to establish the extent of their occupational illness. Six of these centres are mobile.
“Those are the offices wherever they have infrastructure. There are other mechanisms to access the trust over the internet. But the most important facilities, physical facilities, on the ground are TEBA offices,” said claimants’ agent Richard Spoor.
When a claim failed, Dibetle said an appeals process was available, as detailed on the trust’s website.
“People have died since we began this thing,” said Spoor. He explained where a qualifying claimant was dead, their relatives could receive the damages. “There’s no need for a new claim to be filed by the bereaved family,” he said.
Spoor said the announcement of 102 payments by mid-2021 signalled “this giant pipeline that has been established is beginning to flow. It’s, you know, you just need to take a look at this trustee to see the complexities. It was really, really challenging setting the thing up.”
He agreed the deed title was intricate. “It’s a complicated thing. And ... one of the biggest problems we have is the quality of the people who are trained to do the interviews,” said Spoor.
Justice for Miners, an organisation supporting claimants and their families, is chaired by Bishop Jo Seoka. He said the trust must establish mobile offices (not only medical centres) so that bedridden and hospitalised claimants could lodge claims.
Seoka said the 102 payments were welcome in light of the pandemic. “It’s a long time since that settlement was done and the trust was really dragging its feet. They need to really speed up the process.”
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