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Financial Mail writes that after years of intensive negotiations, mineworkers who have been affected by silicosis as a result of working in gold mines will at last be compensated by the companies for which they worked.
The first pay-outs are expected for the end of June. The compensation for workers suffering from occupational lung diseases is the outcome of a landmark class action which culminated in a R5bn settlement between claimants and six SA gold mining companies. Michael Murray, chair of the Occupational Lung Disease Working Group that represents the companies (African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater), said the trust, which will facilitate the pay-outs, was formed on 10 December. “We hope the trust will pretty much be running and making its first payments in the second quarter of 2020,” Murray staed. The Johannesburg High Court approved the R5bn settlement agreement, but all potential claimants covered by the class action first had to be given the option to opt out before the trust could be formed. Only three people opted out and could now sue any of the companies at a later date. The number of former mineworkers who may seek to claim from the fund could be as high as 1-million, though the companies expect the number of those actually eligible to claim will be closer to 100,000. Eligible claimants will be paid out fixed sums depending on the severity of the occupational lung disease. Dependents of an eligible claimants who has since passed away will also be eligible.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisa Steyn at BusinessLive
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