Mining’s widows fall through the cracks
Women locked in an endless battle to get compensation
IN Section 17 in Embalenhle township, Secunda, a town built on the back of gold mining and Sasol’s coal-to-liquid operation, Busisiwe Sikabhu waits, desperate for the money she is owed.
The widow of a miner who died of lung disease, she is one of thousands of South Africans due a pension or payout under the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act.
She can be found most days at the offices of Teba, The Employment Bureau of Africa, in Evander.
This may not even be the right place for her to seek compensation; it is simply one of the few doors into officialdom that she knows.
“I have no food. I survive by the grace of my neighbours who understand my problems. When days are dire I literally go to the streets and beg, just to have something for my stomach,” she said.
Sikabhu hails from Bizana in the Eastern Cape. Her husband died in 2009 after being in and out of hospital with tuberculosis, which can be caused by the dust underground that mineworkers are exposed to.
“I would scream and go around calling my neighbours when he was coughing uncontrollably as if he has run out of breath. He had been to all the hospitals and towards his last days he started coughing blood,” Sikabhu said, tears rolling down her face.
A week ago, at the Mine Occupational Health and Safety Summit in Gauteng, positive announcements were made about curbing TB in the industry.
But there are 105 000 men and women for whom improvements in working conditions have come too late, and who have fallen through the cracks in South Africa. These are former miners with lung disease who cannot be found and compensated for their loss of health — some of them, like Sikabhu, are themselves knocking on doors, looking for a way through the bureaucracy.
There is thought to be R1.5-billion waiting for them.
The reasons put forward for why this money has not been LEFT BEHIND: Busisiwe Sikabhu waits her turn at Teba, The Employment Bureau of Africa, in Evander. Her husband contracted TB from working underground and died seven years ago. She has been battling for compensation ever since paid are that the workers’ details were not captured, or were lost because South Africa’s two dysfunctional workers’ compensation funds (in the departments of health and labour) were in serious disrepair until the appointment of occupational health specialist Barry Kistnasamy to head up a commission looking into the funds in 2012.
There was a significant backlog, which still makes it difficult to clear the huge payment arrears, according to a working group made up of Anglo Gold Ashanti, African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American South Africa, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye Gold.
The companies are facing a class action from mineworkers who contracted silicosis while employed by them.
In his latest report, auditorgeneral Kimi Makwetu said the compensation fund had been dysfunctional for years, with financial statements for 2010 and 2011 not being submitted.
Sikabhu’s predicament is similar to that of Sibongile Dubazane, who has survived on a monthly government grant since her husband died in 2010.
Dubazane does not even know what killed her husband.
“They didn’t say if he had TB or what. But he had been in and out of the hospital on the East Rand. All I was told is that his chest was dark. At the clinics and hospital they usually refuse to give us the information because they say it is confidential,” said Dubazane.
“If it was not for the grant I would be just like her [Sikabhu]. I don’t know how long we have been waiting for these monies. Our children are suffering. They need to go to school and be normal like other children.”
Officials said the situation was improving.
Mpho Ndaba, the director of revitalisation of distressed mining communities at the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, said the compensation fund of the Department of Health had the funds in a bank account administered by a deputy commissioner.
“As beneficiaries are found and documentation completed they are paid. Note that over the last 30 years the compensation fund under Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act has paid 96 767 beneficiaries approximately R1.4-billion,” he said.
Ndaba said a tracking and tracing project was in place. It was launched in the Eastern Cape in 2013 and was enhanced through database verification last year.
“The tracing project also has a call centre, provision of health clinics and a registration process. The deputy minister of mineral resources, Godfrey Oliphant, has undertaken various outreach and awareness campaigns that have assisted with the tracing activities. Support has been provided by the World Bank and Chamber of Mines,” he said.
Ndaba said that since February this year, total payments of R141-million had been made to 3 524 beneficiaries. More than 1 300 beneficiaries from neighbouring countries had received a total of R51-million.
A spokeswoman for the Chamber of Mines, Charmane Russell, said the chamber and the working group were making a substantial contribution to efforts to redesign South Africa’s compensation systems.
“There have been a number of projects, including . . . the ‘Making ODIMWA [the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act] Work’ project, which were launchedin2008, inpartnership with the Department of Health and the National Union of Mineworkers.
“The aims were to establish occupational health centres at identified government hospitals to provide medical examinations to former mineworkers; strengthen the certification and compensation claims process at the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases and the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases as well as the promotion of sustainable economic projects in laboursending areas,” Russell said.
Russell said the chamber had contributed about R26-million to tracking and tracing ill former mineworkers, making administrative improvements and providing the public health system in labour-sending areas with the capacity to examine men and women for occupational lung diseases and assist with compensation claims.
Project Ku-Riha was launched last year in partnership with the Department of Health to assist the bureau and the compensation commissioner with the finalisation of around 100 000 certified but unpaid compensation claims.
“These funds were not paid out for a range of reasons, including incomplete information about the claimant, a lack of a bank account or of identity details,” Russell said.
I don’t know how long we have been waiting for these monies