Huge delays in payouts to miners with silicosis and TB

Nonkolelo Jijingubo’s husband died of TB in 2009 while working at Beatrix Gold Mine in the Free State. Despite lodging her claim in 2021, she is yet to receive payment. Photo supplied

• In May 2018, a R5-billion settlement was reached with six mining companies to compensate miners (and their families) who suffered lung impairment due to TB or silicosis.
• Fewer than 24,000 of over 147,000 claimants have been compensated, while some 385,000 people have registered an intention to claim, and over 175,000 have made appointments to have their claims processed.
• Justice for Miners says claimants across Southern Africa are dying while waiting for medical tests, while others are found ineligible despite having valid medical certificates.
• The trust says it cannot finalise many claims because some mining companies dispute whether post-mortem reports provide sufficient evidence that silicosis or TB is the primary cause of death.

“Every day, I pray that people may have compassion for my family and give us something to eat, as we always run out of food,” says Nonkolelo Jijingubo, of Virginia.

The 56-year-old mother of three is one of thousands of claimants who are losing hope they will ever be compensated by the Tshiamiso Trust.

The trust was established to pay out claims over 12 years, following a R5-billion silicosis and TB class action settlement in May 2018. Six mining companies (covering 82 mines) are party to the agreement: 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.

Jijingubo’s husband of 21 years, Thembinkosi, died of TB in 2009 while working at Beatrix Gold Mine in the Free State. This is despite lodging her claim as far back as 2021 and supplying the trust with his post-mortem results from the National Institute of Occupational Health confirming that he died of TB.

“We mostly survive on pap and cabbage that we buy with my son’s child support grant and the R350 ‘Ramaphosa grant’,” says Jijingubo, referring to the social relief of distress (SRD) grant.

“When Tshiamiso Trust called recently, I was filled with hope that they would finally give me the good news to take us out of our abject poverty. But I was left disappointed after they told me that payments have been shelved. No reason was given, except to tell me to ‘wait’, and that many other widows are also waiting.”

The latest update on the trust’s dashboard reflects that out of 147,702 claims, only 23,356 claimants had been compensated, paying out 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.

Many people in Jijingubo’s situation

Justice for Miners (JFM), an advocacy group of ex-mine workers affected by TB and silicosis, says many people are in Jijingubo’s situation.

JFM Eastern Cape head Ziyanda Manjati said their offices across Southern Africa were inundated by complaints from claimants who have not been paid compensation.

“Some of these claimants have died while still waiting for medical tests, while others have been found ineligible for compensation despite having medical certificates from the Medical Bureau for Occupational Disease (MBOD) that confirm they have lung impairments,” she said.

One such claimant, 60-year-old Sakkie Joubert, from Welkom, was medically boarded from Harmony’s Tshepong gold mine in 2019 after diagnosis with silicosis. Despite having an MBOD certificate confirming first-degree silicosis, his claim was rejected.

“I’m still very sick and rely on an asthma pump. I often get respiratory infections, especially in winter, as my chest closes up all the time,” he said.

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.

“Many of these potential claimants are not even aware that Tshiamiso Trust exists because the trust is not on the ground tracing ex-miners and creating awareness. The trust doesn’t seem concerned. At the 2024 AGM we attended, the trustees said they were relying on word of mouth to reach more miners,” said Manjati.

JFM also questioned how people medically boarded or retrenched due to ill-health were mostly found to have normal lung function by the trust.

University of Cape Town lung health expert Professor Keertan Dheda explained that although silicosis is progressive and incurable, patients, especially in the early stages, could still have “relatively normal lung function” despite the diagnosis.

“Genetically, like some people can run a long distance and some people cannot, some people have very good lung function to start with. Although they may have a modest degree of silicosis, the actual lung function testing may remain within what is regarded as normal for age,” he said.

Although people with silicosis may show normal lung function in tests, this didn’t mean they were not ill. Many still suffer from weakened immunity and face a higher risk of TB, lung cancer and other respiratory infections that affect breathing.

Another major hurdle for claimants is the need for unabridged death certificates, especially when TB or silicosis isn’t listed. With many ex-miners dying at home in rural villages, families struggled to prove cause of death as certificates often simply state “natural causes”.

Tshiamiso Trust responds

This week, spokesperson for the trust Lusanda Jiya told GroundUp that it could not finalise claims such as Jijingubo’s because the trust was awaiting a decision on whether post-mortem reports can 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.

Jiya admitted that the issue of death certificates has prevented thousands of claims from being finalised. “But we are very pleased to report that a key amendment was successfully made to the trust deed that allows claimants to submit a death notification form, certified by the attending medical practitioner, to serve as evidence of the medical condition or disease that caused the death.”

To reach more potential claimants in the remaining four years, Jiya said the trust is accrediting additional medical service providers and implementing measures to improve access for new claim submissions.

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