Sundaymail Editor
Sunday Mail Reporter
ZIMBABWE and South Africa will soon meet to discuss ways of expediting the compensation of the over 1 550 ex-Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (Wenela) miners that have been registered as beneficiaries so far this year.
Registration, however, is still ongoing.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima said he will soon meet with his South African counterpart to try and quicken the process.
“Everything is being coordinated under the Co-operation on Labour and Employment (memorandum of understanding) signed between the two countries under the auspices of the Zimbabwe-South Africa Bi-National Commission,” he said.
“We have submitted names of Zimbabwean claims in a format agreed to by the joint taskforce of the two countries, which includes mining pension funds and the competent authority of pensions in South Africa. We are making follow-ups with our counterparts. Unfortunately, everything slowed down because of Covid-19. We continue to register more qualifying beneficiaries and submit to South African authorities.”
The compensation process is being coordinated by the Tshiamiso Trust that was established in South Africa.
Plans are underway for the Trust’s leaders to visit Zimbabwe to provide further details to beneficiaries.
“On our part, we have made arrangements to test (examinations for pneumoconiosis) and register the ex-miners and their families for submission to the Tshiamiso Trust for processing of compensation. We have covered Bulawayo, Hwange, Harare and Masvingo provinces and 1 550 have been registered.
“The ministers will soon engage to agree on measures to expedite the process as well as the payment of the submitted claims. The South Africa Minister of Labour wrote to his counterpart a few months ago indicating his desire to look into ways of ensuring that the process is expedited.”
Thousands of Zimbabweans migrated to South Africa during the mid-century gold rush to work in gold mines owned by African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater.
However, as a result of poor ventilation in the mines, many of them contracted respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and silicosis.
The migrant workers were not paid their employment benefits accrued at the mines during years of service. Lawyers representing the ex-Wenela workers and the companies reached an historic R5 billion rand settlement in 2016.
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