By ‘Majirata Latela
Tshiamiso Trust has come under fire from various quarters for supposedly dragging its feet when facilitating the processing of claims by gold miners who suffered silicosis and tuberculosis while working in the South African mines.
The trust which was established in February 2020 is reported to have not paid even a single Mosotho even though it claims to have processed claims. Other reports suggest that people are also pushed from pillar to post at Tshiamiso Trust offices in Maseru to lodge their claims for compensation.
theReporter this week spoke to Justice For Miner’s Executive Secretary Booi Mohapi who indicated that ex-miners and their dependants frequent his offices requesting the organisation to intervene in order to fast track the processing of claims for pay-out to beneficiaries.
“People have been coming to our offices to ask for assistance to pass their claims through. Most of them complain of a lot of paper work that is involved and hard to obtain from the concerned mines.
“Some complain that even when they believe that the paper work is complete, the trust officers will demand the most insignificant document which they would not be aware of. They are then turned away. Some of those needed documents can be availed by the mines themselves. It is the duty of each mine to facilitate attempts to obtain the required documents,” Mohapi explained while disturbed.
“How can Tshiamiso demand mine documents from a woman whose husband died in the 1980’s which the trust itself cannot find from the mine even though they have access to the mines. Imagine a woman going to her deceased spouse’s work place just to seek relevant information regarding the claim,” Mohapi wondered.
He regretted that some miners die before they can enjoy the fruits of their toil while promises are being made that they would be compensated. Some die before the type of silicosis is determined.
Mohapi was remindful that as recent as last month a miner died before the trust officials could visit him to determine the degree of the disease affecting him. The officials were to carry out the lung test.
“They had promised to go on May 10 2021 to do the test as the man could not walk to their offices. The victim was placed under oxygen machine to help him breathe. As we speak the officials are remaining numb as to when a post-mortem would be done,” he remarked furiously.
One Zimbabwean publication has recently also reported that Zimbabwean workers who contracted respiratory diseases while working in South African mines will have to wait longer to get compensation, as the organisation facilitating the release of their funds has asked for additional details which are hard to find.
Tshiamiso Trust, which is handling claims by ex-miners recently wrote to the Ex-Wenela Miners Association of Zimbabwe asking that they provide it with the correct industry’s former workers. theReporter also published an article highlighting a delay in the processing of claims by ex-miners for lung-related infections. Most of them expressed deep concerns of living in abject although they had worked for long decades under the ground.
According to mine recruitment agency TEBA, the numbers of men working in the South African mines has declined significantly from a peak of about 125,000 Basotho men in that country in the late 1980s to 35, 000 in 2010.
Stakeholder and communications manager of Tshiamiso Trust, Monako Dibetle has also confirmed that there is no claim that has been paid thus far. He said since the call centre was established, they have been in undated calls from 14 847 Basotho nationals who sought appointments.
The centre was put in place in January 2020.
He added that there have been 11,636 claims lodged since an opening of offices on February 15 2021. He could not reveal the number of claims that have been processed and awaiting payment.
Dibetle said any complaints about his officials rendering poor services, the issues are addressed head-on as they are referred to relevant officers.
He further denied unconfirmed claims that “there are delaying tactics from Tshiamiso so that it can divert the money.
“This is untrue. Tshiamiso does not have access to the money until claims have been approved. We have no interest in delaying payments. On the contrary, Tshiamiso has worked very hard, even during the dawn of the pandemic Covid-19, to set up the infrastructure enabling them to receive claims.
“We are certainly engaging with ex-mine workers’ organisations throughout southern Africa. We are eager to assist the claimants by trying to locate their whereabouts. We have placed posters in both official languages for information dissemination to the beneficiaries
“Naturally radio is an important feature. Tens of millions of rands have been and will be spent on radio communications. We are also using phone messaging and other social media. We also hope that, and in fact have already noted that, for those who may not have access to these media, word of mouth between former mining industry colleagues and their families and friends will play its part,” Dibetle pointed out.
According to Tshiamiso the trust is mandated to put in place medical examination facilities to perform reliable examinations, including post-mortem examinations where applicable. The trustees shall compile and maintain a registry of approved medical facilities, bodies and practitioners.
The settlement agreement applies to almost all gold mineworkers who carried out risk work at one or more of the 82 gold mines owned by six companies. The companies involved are African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater.
It applies to those employees who carried out risk work and who worked at those mines for a time between 12 March 1965 and 10 December 2019 (the effective date), and those who contracted silicosis in the past or who are diagnosed with silicosis before December 2031, or who contracted TB while working at those mines or within a year of leaving the mine.
However, it does not apply to those who were part of any other silicosis settlement, including the Qhubeka Trust settlement, nor to those few who chose to opt out of the settlement during the opt- out period in late 2019.
Tshiamiso Trust was established in February 2020 to ensure that eligible former or current gold mineworkers with silicosis or work-related TB (or, in case of deceased mineworkers, their dependants) are compensated.
The silicosis and tuberculosis class action settlement and Trust Deed was agreed between six mining companies and the attorneys representing mineworkers wanting to claim damages against those companies.
The object of the Trust is defined as “to give effect to the Settlement Agreement and provide Benefits to Eligible Claimants (being the beneficiaries of the Trust) in the amounts and upon the terms set out in this Trust Deed (Trust Object). The activities of the Trust shall be directed at, and the Trust Fund shall be used for the pursuit of the Trust Object.”
