Compensation for sick miners: only 30% of claimants paid out by Tshiamiso Trust
Most claims do not meet the medical criteria, AGM told
The R5-billion Tshiamiso Trust was set up as the result of a settlement between mine workers and six gold mining companies, to compensate former miners who contracted TB or silicosis on the mines. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
- Only 30% of former miners claiming compensation for lung disease from the Tshiamiso Trust have been compensated, the Trust’s AGM was told.
- CEO Munyadziwa Kwinda said the others had not met the criteria for medical eligibility for compensation for TB or silicosis contracted while working on the gold mines.
- The Trust has come under fire for not paying out fast enough.
Only three in every ten former miners claiming compensation from the R5-billion Tshiamiso Trust have been compensated, the Trust’s CEO Munyadziwa Kwinda told the online AGM last month. Most have been found to be medically ineligible.
The Tshiamiso Trust was set up in 2019, the result of a settlement between mine workers and six gold mining companies: African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater.
The agreement allows for compensation for miners who worked at these companies’ mines between March 1965 and December 2019 and who contracted silicosis or TB while working there. So far just over 24,000 claimants have been compensated, and just over R2-billion has been paid out.
Kwinda said of the 83,810 claims certified to date about 58,400 (70%) did not meet the criteria for medical eligibility for compensation.
“I need to emphasise this because it’s a very critical step of our claims process where hopeful claimants get into the system, and out of ten, only three are found to have a qualifying disease,” said Kwinda.
At the AGM, the Trust came under fire for not paying out fast enough. Janet Kahn, a member of the Trust’s advisory committee, said the delays in processing of claims and massive rejection of claims went against the Trust’s values, “to give claimants the benefit of the doubt”.
She said the Tshiamiso Trust (Tshiamiso means “to make good” or “correct” in Setswana) was created to serve as an apology for the way mining companies treated ex-miners who were sent home to die after getting sick working in the gold mines.
She said ex-miners and their families were frustrated and disappointed as the Trust rejected their claims in large numbers.
“We all talk about the Trust deed, but let’s also think about why the class action was brought in the first place,” she said, referring to the delays in payment of claims due to differences in the interpretation of the Trust deed between representatives of mining companies and those of claimants.
Certificates
Kwinda said rejections included claimants with government-issued MBOD (Medical Bureau for Occupational Disease) certificates. The Trust deed requires that a miner’s MBOD certificate, issued in terms of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act, (ODIMWA) must be accepted if the trustees agree that it was issued in substantial compliance with the Trust’s specifications.
But Trust chairperson Professor May Hermanus told the meeting that the Trust had since suspended the use of MBOD certificates as evidence for silicosis or TB diagnosis.
She said the Trust could no longer accept the certificates until a full assessment had been done to make sure that the diagnostic criteria used by the MBOD aligned with the Trust’s diagnostic criteria, as per the Trust deed. Representatives of both the claimants and the mining representatives on the Trust had agreed to the suspension of these certificates, Hermanus said.
“The agreed approach is that [these] certificates cannot be assessed on face value, instead the Trust must verify substantial alignment between the MBOD’s diagnostic criteria and its own qualifying disease criteria. Upon confirmation of such alignment, the certificates for first- and second-degree silicosis and first- and second-degree tuberculosis may then be recognised as approved ODIMWA certificates,” said Hermanus.
Legitimacy
Richard Spoor, whose legal team represented miners during the class action lawsuit, told GroundUp the ball was now “squarely in the MBOD’s court”.
He said it had come to the Trust’s attention that since the 1990s the MBOD did not have clearly laid down criteria for diagnosing silicosis and TB. This meant the legitimacy of MBOD certificates could be questioned.
Spoor said the Trust criteria were based on “the most up-to-date norms and standards” and those of the MBOD were not. “So the Trust cannot rely on them.”
“They must promulgate their criteria,” he said.
He said the MBOD should “get its house in order”, warning that the lack of clear criteria for diagnosis had created a loophole and money had been wasted on unnecessary tests, which could be avoided if proper procedures were followed.
Claims
According to the Trust’s 2025 annual report, only 14,464 claims were successfully lodged in the past year, a drop of about 50% compared to 2024. The year in review also saw an 18% drop in medical certifications to 13, 865.
Of the over 25,400 claims that had been found to be medically eligible so far, silicosis class 1 was the most common finding.
Lesotho saw the highest number of payouts with 8,894 claimants compensated to the value of R809-million (40% of the R2-billion paid so far), followed by the Eastern Cape with 5,579 of claimants compensated, to the value of R533-million and the Free State, with 2,128 of claimants paid about R215-million.
Mozambique and North-West Province each had 5% of claims paid while Gauteng only had 2%, or 512 claims to the value of R45.9-million.
Staff costs
The Trust’s mandate ends in 2031. But there are fears that its R845-million operational budget could run out before then. Financial statements show that staff costs remain one of the biggest expenditures, jumping from just over R31.5-million in 2024 to R35.2-million in 2025.
Trustees received a 4.4% pay raise with Hermanus’s pay increasing from R812,245 in 2024 to R848,470 in 2025, and occupational medicine specialist Dr Sophia Kisting-Cairncross’s pay increasing from R403,600 to R421,600.
Concerning the funding shortfall, Hermanus said “We will do whatever we can to make sure that we keep this Trust going for as long as it’s needed.”
She said that while the Trust had previously explored raising funds elsewhere, the current global funding climate had made this difficult.
“There is a lot of work ahead, and we will certainly do it,” said Hermanus.
The claims process
Claimants have to go through an eight-step process when claiming from the Trust:
Step 1: Check details
Claimants can log on to https://www.tshiamisotrust.com/information/status-check/ or contact the Trust’s call centre on 080 1000 240 or 00 27 10 500 6186 if they are outside South Africa. They must provide a South African ID number or an Industry Number to check that their details are on the Tshiamiso Trust database and to see if they may be eligible to lodge a claim with the Trust.
Step 2: Book an appointment
Claimants book an appointment and bring their documents to the nearest lodgement office.
Step 3: Lodgement
Claimants submit personal details, work history stating which mines they worked at, and medical records. Before MBOD tests were suspended, claimants could opt to submit their certificates and skip the Trust’s medical tests.
Step 4: Benefit Medical Examinations
Claimants go through lung function and other medical tests, mostly done by occupational health nurses and radiologists.
Step 5: Review by medical certification panel
The Trust’s medical panel, made up of occupational disease experts, reviews claimants’ medical results, issues a certificate of findings and decides on eligibility. Many claims are rejected here. Claimants can appeal within 120 days.
Step 6: Review by Trust Certification Committee
Claimants diagnosed with a qualifying disease under Step 5, have their documents reviewed by the Trust Certification Committee which decides whether to certify the claim for compensation. If unhappy with the decision, claimants can appeal within 120 days.
Step 7: Review by mining company agent
After review by the Trust Certification Committee, the claimant’s case has to go through another review by the mine agent who checks the claimant’s work records for accuracy.
Step 8: Approval and payment
If all the claimant’s documents have been reviewed and approved, the Trust validates the claimant’s banking information and makes a payment.
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Letters
Dear Editor
I refer to your article today on the Tshiamiso Trust, not the first heaping criticism on the Trustees and the staff trying to do a very difficult job.
You write that: “The R5-billion Tshiamiso Trust was set up as the result of a settlement between mine workers and six gold mining companies, to compensate former miners who contracted TB or silicosis on the mines.”
In a parallel universe, you could have said:
The R5.8-billion government Mines and Works Compensation Fund was set up as the result of laws passed by Parliament, to compensate former miners who contracted TB or silicosis on the mines.
- Unpaid compensation claims = 70,739 amounting to R1,359 billion at 31 March 2024
- Compensation amounts which are paid out were described as “paltry and inadequate” by the Concourt in 2011.
Yet your article pillories this extraordinary Trust that had to step in to make up for government failure and neglect. All you say is true. But you place the blame on the good guys. All the government reports are in the public domain.
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