Tshiamiso purse strings too tight for claimants

A widow of a miner who died of lung diseases has shared how a Welkom-based mine brought her to Free State to fetch her sick husband.

The mother of three said she broke down in front of mine managers as she looked at her husband, who was frail and struggling to breathe due to silicosis and tuberculosis, which he contracted on duty.

Nomakhaya Kiti's husband had worked in the mines since 1978 and the mines sent him home because he was too sick. Kiti from Ggeberha in Eastern Cape is among hundreds of widows whose husbands worked at different gold mines in SA and are struggling to get compensation.

Last month Sowetan reported that Tshiamiso Trust, established to compensate former gold mineworkers who contracted silicosis and TB, had paid the first R1bn to 11,316 eligible claimants.

Tshiamiso was formed after R5bn settlement in a 2018 class action lawsuit was reached to be paid out over 13 years. Some of the families and miners still waiting for payment spoke about how frustrating the process was. Sowetan spoke to former miners and widows of gold miners in the Eastern Cape, Free State and Lesotho.

Kiti, 59, said she had to take care of her sick husband, who struggled to breath, walk and eat. "When I got to the mines and took a look at my husband, I could see that he was seriously sick. That is why I cried because I had given the mines my husband healthy and they returned him to me to die. I had never seen a person who had TB and silicosis before.

“Watching him gasping for air and coughing was too painful. He struggled with short breath.

Sometimes they [Tshiamiso Trust officials] call me to go to their branch in King Williams Town, a trip that costs me R360. I have to borrow money to go there and I struggle to pay it back because the only income I have is R350 relief grant. My three kids are not employed.

Lesotho-based claimants survive on ploughing in the fields and selling their own livestock.

As much as most of them started the process of lodging claims around 2021, their problems vary.

Mamatela Sehapa from Lesotho told Sowetan that she was tired of being poor while waiting for Tshiamiso to make a decision. She lodged a claim in 2021 through at their branch in Lesotho branch and has been waiting for responses since from Tshiamiso. Her husband worked in the mines in SA and died in 2019 of TB.

She said the she was told that the process only took eight months, especially when one had submitted all the correct and required documents. “To even get an update I have to physically go to their offices in Maseru. I do that because when you call you do not get answers. I have to take care of seven kids including me.

"All my children are not working and we are poor. We are suffering because there is no grant in Lesotho. I only survive through ploughing vegetables. I am truly suffering with my kids. They even stopped going to school because of poverty.”

Former gold mineworker Ziphathe Magubane said he was retrenched in 2013. He said he had proof that he has second degree of silicosis. During the claim process, Magubane was sent for X-rays by Tshiamiso. The test showed that he had first degree of the disease.

"I know I have second degree because I have have certificates to prove. After they showed me how much they will pay me I told them I was appealing the decision. I want another X-ray, so I have been waiting for them to come back to me since June. They are saying the appeal committee is not set up yet."

bambalelep@spwetan.co.za