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GroundUp reports that housands of claimants are losing hope they will ever be compensated by the Tshiamiso Trust, which was established to pay out claims following a R5-billion silicosis and TB class action settlement in May 2018.
Six mining companies (covering 82 mines) are party to the settlement, namely African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater. Ex-miners who worked between March 1965 and December 2019 and suffered lung impairment due to TB or silicosis from exposure to dust and chemicals may qualify for compensation. The latest update on the trust’s dashboard reflects that out of 147,702 claims, only 23,356 claimants had been compensated, with payouts of about R2.1-billion. The dashboard shows that 385,551 people have registered with the trust with the intention to claim, and 176,846 have made appointments to have their claims processed.
Justice for Miners (JFM), an advocacy group of ex-mine workers affected by TB and silicosis, says their offices across Southern Africa have been inundated by complaints from claimants who have not been paid compensation. JFM says the approximately 23,000 miners paid by Tshiamiso Trust to date is a drop in the ocean compared to about 500,000 potential claimants across South Africa and neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Lusanda Jiya, spokesperson for the trust, explained that delays had arisen because the trust was awaiting a decision on whether post-mortem reports could be used to determine the primary cause of death as Silicosis or TB. “Some parties to the settlement agreement do not deem this as sufficient evidence of silicosis or TB being the primary cause of death. We continue to work with the relevant parties to resolve the matter,” she said.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sipokazi Fokazi at GroundUp
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