Breath of fresh air for former miners

“HEARTS and lungs” mining compensation claims from dust exposure go to the Department of Health while “heads and legs” claims from mining accidents go to the Department of Labour.

That’s how Dr Barry Kistnasamy, who heads the Compensation Commission for Occupational Diseases, describes his work trying to speed up the claims that need to be paid to thousands of sickly former mineworkers across southern Africa.

This week, the Supreme Court of Appeal granted six of South Africa’s biggest gold mining firms – including Anglo American, Harmony and Gold Fields – leave to appeal against the historic South High Court decision in May, giving ailing mineworkers suffering from silicosis and TB the go-ahead to bring a groundbreaking class-action lawsuit against them.

Kistnasamy said this was a “legacy issue” and the product of racist apartheid legislation that protected white mineworkers until 1993. He inherited a “dysfunctional” system when he took over three years ago – the commission’s offices were crammed with files and there wasn’t a system to trace claims.

“We still have a backlog of legacy claims in the commission for payment and have set up an electronic database and a multifaceted tracking and tracing system with an inbound and outbound call centre and links to mining companies to complete missing documents in claimant files. We’re now moving forward with partnerships with the government, mining sector and institutions like the World Bank to speed up the claims process.