My father worked at a mine, he got sick at work and passed away in 2001. Is there any way we can claim compensation?

The long answer

There were three Western Deep Level Mines: 

No. 1 Shaft, which is now called Mponeng Gold Mine in the Witwatersrand basin and is the deepest mine in the world, 

No. 3 Shaft, now called TauTona Mine in the West Wits gold field west of Johannesburg,

Savuka Mine, which is no longer mining but just treating tailings now. 

AngloGold Ashanti owned all three Western Deep Levels mines until Harmony Gold bought them in 2020. You would need to find out which one your father worked for.

All mine workers and ex-mineworkers who have contracted a lung disease like silicosis or TB from being exposed to harmful dusts on the mines can apply for compensation to the State under the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act of 1973 (ODMWA).

ODMWA compensates for the following lung diseases caused by working in mines:

• Silicosis, which is common in gold and platinum miners;

• Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis or CWP, which is common in coal mineworkers;

• Asbestosis and Mesothelioma, usually found in asbestos mineworkers; 

• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (or COPD); and

• Pulmonary tuberculosis or TB (but only if it is contracted while at work or within one year of leaving work).

Families have the right to request a free autopsy when a mineworker passes away from any illness in order to determine whether the worker’s lung condition was compensated for at the time of death. In that case, the dependents are entitled to the ODMWA compensation. 

There is also another fund you might qualify for. After a huge TB and silicosis class action case on behalf of mineworkers against mines, which reached a R5-billion settlement in 2018, the Tshiamiso Trust was set up to pay compensation to qualifying ex-mineworkers and their dependants for the next 12 years. 

To get compensation, a former miner would have to have either silicosis or TB through their work at qualifying mines between 12 March 1965 and 10 December 2019. 

The following six mining companies, covering 82 mines, are part of the class action settlement: African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater. 

According to the Tshiamiso Trust, dependents of miners who passed away prior to 2019 may be eligible for compensation if silicosis or tuberculosis was the primary cause of death or if an ODMWA certificate has been obtained. (A certificate issued expressly for silicosis and tuberculosis under the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act is known as an ODMWA certificate.)

Tshiamiso says that all claims (by ex-miners or by dependants) must be lodged in person at one of their 41 lodgement offices. You would need to call the Tshiamiso call centre at 080 1000 420 to make an appointment and find out which lodgement office is nearest to you.

These are the documents they say that dependants must bring with them:  

• Your valid SA ID document or SADC passport

• SA ID document or SADC passport of the deceased mineworker

• Service records from the mines that the deceased mineworker worked at

• The deceased mineworker’s death certificate and, if available, an autopsy report

• Any available medical records of the deceased mineworker.

They say that if you do not have some of these documents, Tshiamiso will do its best to help find them. They say that certain documents, including employment records, may take time to verify, mainly because of bad record-keeping in the earlier years.)

A Facebook post in 2023 from Tshiamiso says the following about TB claims for deceased mineworkers:

“For mineworkers who died before 10 December 2019, there must be evidence (a death certificate or post-mortem/autopsy report) that proves that cardio-respiratory or pulmonary tuberculosis was the MAIN CAUSE OF DEATH. They must also have died within a year of leaving the mine. Without this, the claim will not be eligible for compensation.” 

A GroundUp article in July 2025 says that there have been delays in paying out claims by Tshiamiso. The requirement for unabridged death certificates is one of the major issues for claimants, particularly when scoliosis and TB are not included. In rural communities, where many former miners died at home, families found it difficult to prove the cause of death because certificates often only list “natural causes” as the cause of death.  

According to the article, Lusanda Jiya, the spokeswoman for the Tshiamiso Trust, acknowledged that the problem of death certificates had kept thousands of claims from being resolved. Jiya added that a significant change to the trust deed was successfully completed, enabling claimants to provide a death notification form that has been certified by the attending physician as proof of the illness or medical condition that led to the death.

The GroundUp article says that 175,000 have made appointments to have their claims processed and, of the 147,000 claimants who have lodged a claim, only 24,000 have been paid compensation. That means more than 80% have not been paid.  

The Trust says it cannot finalise many claims because some mining companies don’t agree that post-mortem reports provide enough evidence that silicosis or TB is the main cause of death.

It is certainly worth it for you to find the documents and submit a claim as a dependant, but you should know that it takes a long time to settle a claim, so don't give up!

Wishing you the best,
Athalie