WeeklySA_AdminFRUSTRATION: A total of 84 percent compensation claims lodged by families of mineworkers with multi-billion rand trust still have to be settled…
By Sipokazi Fokazi
“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 in the Free State.
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) were 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.
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. – GroundUp
MIRROR Briefs
RECORD ONLINE school APPLICATIONS
Gauteng MEC for Education Matome Chiloane has announced that more than 213 000 online applications for Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners were successfully processed by Thursday when the 2026 online admissions process officially opened. The online admissions application period for Grade 1 and Grade 8 in Gauteng officially commenced on Thursday at 8am and within the first hour alone, the system had recorded a total of 78 645 Grade 1 and Grade 8 applications.
The department said this translated to 32 584 Grade 1 applications and 46 061 Grade 8 applications recorded within the first hour. By 1pm, this number had risen to 213 654 successfully processed applications, including 93 042 Grade 1 and 120 612 Grade 8 applications. As part of the start of the much-anticipated application period, Chiloane led the official Switch-On at the YMCA in Ga-Rankuwa on Thursday morning, where he assisted parents and guardians in navigating the online application process. “We urge parents and guardians in future to refrain from trying to log in before the official start time to avoid unnecessary access issues. The 2026 Online Admissions application window will remain open until 29 August 2025,” the Gauteng Department of Education said. – SAnews
CALL TO DISCHARGE ALLEGED KILLERS.
The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial has indicated that they would be submitting an application for the acquittal of the five accused arguing that there was no evidence that linked their clients to the killing of the Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana soccer star. Shortly after the State closed its case after three years of presenting evidence, lawyer for two of the accused, Adv. Charles Mnisi, told Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng that there was no real evidence against the accused for conviction and thus no case to answer to.
State prosecutor advocate George Baloyi said no more witnesses will be called after leading evidence for three years.Mnisi told the court that the defence would be approaching Legal Aid, which is financing the accused’s case, to make establish if they would also finance the discharge application. The matter would return to court in two weeks time, where Legal Aid’s decision would be ventilated.Five accused — Fisokuhle Ntuli, Mthobisi Mncube, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi and Mthokoziseni Maphisa — have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The former Bafana Bafana captain and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper was fatally shot on October 26, 2014 while visiting his then-girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo, at her family’s home in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni. – Lehlohonolo Lehana
COPS KILL SUSPECTED ROBBERS.
Five suspected cash-in-transit robbers have been shot dead during a shootout with Gauteng police in Crown Mine, Johannesburg .Provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, confirmed the incident which occurred last week. Nevhuhulwi said police received intelligence information about suspects planning to commit a cash in transit robbery in Johannesburg. “Their vehicle was spotted on the M1/M2 highway split and they sped off when they noticed police following them. As a chase ensued, the suspects started shooting at the police who retaliated. The suspects’ vehicle crashed into a palisade fence.
All five occupants were fatally shot,” she said.Preliminary investigation revealed that the car they were using was involved in a murder and cash-in-transit robbery that occurred on July 14, 2025, at Kingsley in KwaZulu-Natal. Inside the car, police recovered an AK-47 assault rifle, a pistol and explosives. Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni, said the operation was a collaborative effort from the KZN Tactical Response Team, Gauteng and KZN DPCI, Gauteng Traffic and private security companies. “These collaborative efforts are yielding success and should send a strong message to criminals that police will not repose and will continue to deal decisively with criminal issues,” he said. – Fullview.
WASTEFUL MUNICIPALITY PUNISHED
KwaZulu-Natal Treasury has officially withdrawn its financial support services to Umkhanyakude District Municipality, citing concerns over wasteful expenditure and lack of cooperation from municipal officials.Finance MEC, Francois Rodgers confirmed the decision in a formal letter addressed to the municipality’s mayor, Siphile Mdaka. He said the decision was taken in a bid to conserve provincial government resources and redirect them where it was possible to work freely in the spirit of building a capable and ethical state. According to the MEC, KZN Treasury teams had on various occasions travelled to Umkhanyakhude a day in advance, to facilitate a full productive day with municipal officials. However, the teams have often found themselves subjected to late cancellations of sessions by municipal officials, either the evening before or the mornings of scheduled meetings.“These recurring late cancellations has resulted in fruitless and wasteful expenditure being incurred by KZN Provincial Treasury,” Rodgers said. In his letter to the mayor, Rodgers emphasised that Treasury had limited resources and in determining which municipalities to support; the municipal manager was required to “commit to the initiative and to provide assurance that the Treasury teams will receive full cooperation.”
“This clearly has not happened and I have therefore instructed my team to withdraw from the municipality and to reassign the resources to other municipalities that desperately require our support,” Rodgers said. – SAnews
