Sick ex-miner reveals life of hopelessness

“WHEN you live with silicosis you’re not a person,” said former mine worker Siponono Phahlam, 62, sitting in the lounge of his house in Bizana in the Eastern Cape.

He took two plastic bags of medication out of a cupboard underneath his TV and shook them out on the coffee table.

He has become dependent on the boxes and bottles of pills that litter the table, and there are many more bags in the cupboard.

A normal day for Phahlam, who was diagnosed with silicosis in 1994, means taking up to 10 sinusitis pills just to be able to breathe.

He stopped working at Kusasalethu mine, formerly Elandsrand, in Gauteng, three years after his diagnosis.

“They let you work until you can't,” said the former stone-blaster.

He said he did not receive a severance package or compensation for contracting silicosis.

The family depends on the money his wife, Nokubonga Nkosi, 38, earns doing odd jobs, and their child support grants.

Phahlam said two of his sons are addicted to nyaope and he blamed lack of finances and his inability to educate his 12 children.

When his wife is out doing temporary work, Phahlam said he helps her out by cleaning the house and cooking.

Phahlam’s illness has worsened because he also has diabetes. He is convinced he won't live to see the end of the year. “It's sad that you can work for almost 30 years and get nothing,” he said, looking away, as his eyes redden. “When we get sick they throw us away like toilet paper.”

He said he used to earn up to R30 000 a month in the mine, most of it made up of a performance bonus. The bonus gave him incentive to work hard but it meant he was underground for longer periods of time.

Phahlam said working in the mines was tough and conditions were often unsafe. “They used to beat us like children,” he said, explaining that it was done to ensure that they did not protest when told to work in dangerous places.

“I played with my life in the mines, and to not even get my package. . . ”

Phahlam tried to get one of his sons to take his place in the mine, but he could not get jobs for them because they don’t have matric.

“We can’t stop working because of tisis [silicosis],” he said, adding that not everyone gets it.