Mathatisi Sebusi

MEMBERS of Parliament and civil servants have called for an amendment to the Tshiamiso Trust deed to enable Basotho miners, ex-miners, and beneficiaries who are eligible for silicosis and tuberculosis (TB) compensation to receive their due payments.

This follows ongoing struggles for Lesotho beneficiaries to access their compensation due to the lack of medical records proving they contracted the diseases while working in South African mines, or death certificates clearly stating TB or silicosis as the cause of death.

The Tshiamiso Trust, established in 2019 to facilitate the compensation of mineworkers and ex-miners who worked in South African gold mines and suffered permanent lung damage from work-related TB or silicosis, demands these records.

The Trust was established by the six mining companies to compensate TB and silicosis diagnosed ex-miners. It is mandated to finalise compensation of beneficiaries across the SADC region by 2031.

Its founders include African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American South Africa, AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Stillwater, and Gold Fields.

On Monday, MPs and civil servants raised their concerns before the Social Cluster Committee.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ex-Miners’ Associations, Migrants’ Association, and Tshiamiso Trust were invited to present the progress of compensation and the challenges Basotho beneficiaries face.

Chairperson of the Social Cluster Committee, Mokhothu Makhalanyane, emphasized the need to amend the Tshiamiso Trust Deed, warning that most Basotho would lose their compensation if no action was taken. He pointed out that the trust deed did not consider the specific circumstances of each country.

“The Trust deed needs to be reviewed to accommodate key challenges restricting Basotho beneficiaries from getting their compensation and this has to be done urgently as we are working on the project which is timebound.

“If we do not act now, after seven years, Tshiamiso will be gone and Basotho will be left unpaid,” Mr Makhalanyane noted.

This he said after being informed by Ministry of Labour and Development Principal Liaison Officer, Mpinane Masupha, that a lot of Basotho were not receiving their compensation due to complicated paper work demanded by Tshiamiso Trust.

Ms Masupha pointed out that the delays stemmed from incomplete documentation during the claims process, particularly for claims related to deceased mineworkers. She said Tshiamiso needed the death certificate of ex-miners to specify that TB or silicosis were the cause of the death.

“Lesotho death certificates only state that the death is either natural, unnatural or undetermined, but Tshiamiso Trust wants the death certificates to specify the cause of death as either TB or silicosis. In the absence of this, beneficiaries are not given their money despite having medical history showing that the person has been treated for TB or silicosis and some have even been dismissed from their jobs because of it,” she said.

She said Lesotho doctors often refused to certify that a beneficiary was treated for TB or silicosis.

Additionally, if a person died from an accident but had proof of TB or silicosis treatment, they did not receive compensation as the qualifying diseases were not the cause of death.

Beneficiaries of deceased ex-miners with dual citizenship also face challenges proving their addresses in South Africa, as many lived in mines’ hostels.

“These are people who were given citizenship in 1994 and given voting rights. They were Basotho working in the mines and residing at the mines’ hostels,” she said.

She further noted that for living mineworkers, confirmation of compensable diseases relied on medical professionals and Benefit Medical Examinations (BMEs).

She said claimants were required to undergo treatments, provide proof of completion, and conduct a lung function test within 24 months post-treatment.

“Payments are still delayed, and there is confusion concerning Tshiamiso’s criteria/formula for computing amounts due for different compensation classes, most Basotho ex-miners have received M70 000 pay-outs which is class 1 amount paid to eligible ex-miners with up to 10 percent of lung function damage.

“Tshiamiso Trust has to clarify this matter since it is highly unlikely that all claimants can fall under Class 1, yet silicosis is a progressive condition. Tshiamiso should also clarify issues around the progressive nature of the disease and eligibility for further compensation. A once-off compensation for a progressive condition seems to lack fairness.

“Tshiamiso Trust has also not addressed how they intend to compensate deceased ex-miners whose medical records suggest silicosis or TB as the cause of death. There is no reliable data on the number of Basotho ex-miners eligible for compensation, making it difficult to determine if all eligible ex-miners have received their dues or estimate the treatment cost for the country.”

Because of these restrictions, Tshiamiso has only been able to compensate a few Basotho, leaving the majority without compensation, she said.

For her part, Chairperson of Public Account Committee (PAC), Machabana Lemphane-Letsie, argued that it made no sense to deny a person compensation just because they died from a different cause.

“The government has to be proactive on this and fight for Basotho. It will take us years if we follow this strategy of theirs. Cause of death does not justify that a person did not get TB or Silicosis in the mines. The strategy needs to be reviewed.

“Cause of death should not be the reason one losses their compensation. One could be killed by a car while on treatment or having medical records showing that they contacted TB and Silicosis. Medical records should be the ones considered,” she said

Tshiamiso Trust Chief Executive Officer, Munyadziwa Kwinda, said as much as they understood Basotho’s concerns and their request to have the Trust Deed reviewed, they had no authority to do so as directors of the Trust, but would motivate the need to review it to the six mining companies which are founders of the Trust.

Dr Kwinda admitted the issue with death certificates and noted efforts in South Africa to resolve it by approaching the Ministry of Home Affairs for relevant data. He emphasised that the issue affected the entire region, not just Lesotho.

“We have no power to review the Trust Deed, what we can do is motivate for its review based on the experiences and challenges faced,” Dr Kwinda told the committee.

He said to date, Tshiamiso Trust has been able to pay 18 000 beneficiaries across the SADC region of which 7 918 were Basotho.

“We paid around M1.6 billion to beneficiaries of which around M7 million is paid to Basotho,” he noted.

Despite these payments, out of 10 Basotho claimants who undergo tests, only three were deemed eligible for compensation, and they still faced further tests to determine the compensation amount.