Ex-miners apply for benefits

A LARGE number of ex-mineworkers in the Frances Baard and Pixley ka Seme districts have applied for unclaimed benefits.

The Department of Labour, together with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), recently kicked off the registration campaign of unclaimed benefits for ex-mineworkers in the Northern Cape.

The project has already yielded positive results with a total of

729 applicants applying. Of these, 358 applications have already been processed for payment.

The campaign is aimed at ex-mineworkers who left employment in the mines prior to April 1, 2002.

All ex-mineworkers who left their employment after that date will be assessed in line with the Unemployment Insurance Act of 2001.

The campaign started in Hartswater on May 30.

“We are humbled by the response we received from potential applicants for these unclaimed benefits and our team is hard at work finalising the process of verification and payouts,” Advocate Gwabeni, deputy director, beneficiary services, said yesterday.

The next leg of the campaign will focus on ex-mineworkers in the John Taolo Gaetsewe district and will still be publicised.

The Department of Labour, which has been charged with the responsibility of tracing and paying these ex-mineworkers, has urged all potential applicants to bring with them the following documents for verification: identity document, access card (from previous mine employer), IRP5 (from the previous mine employer), old blue card, previous salary advice or any proof of mine employment (including “Makhulu’s kop” card, Dompas or TEBA record).

– Patsy Beangstrom