TimesLive reports that R1.5 billion is lying idle, waiting for 105,000 former mineworkers with lung disease to be found so the cash can be given to them.  

The workers' details were not captured or were lost as SA’s two dysfunctional workers' compensation funds (in the departments of health and labour respectively) dissolved in chaos.  The latest auditor-general's report has highlighted major financial and governance troubles in the funds, which are meant to help employees who get injured at work or who contract diseases.  Trade unions have called for a speedy resolution of problems plaguing the funds - one of which has not submitted financial statements since 2010.  Trade union Solidarity said the health department’s compensation fund's new electronic system was unable to deal with 200,000 claims submitted annually.  National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) occupational health and safety officer, Erick Gcilitshana, said the biggest problem with the health department's mines and works fund was the messy database.

• Read this informative report by Sipho Mabena in full at TimesLive

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