Retired Eastern Cape mineworkers: DA's five step plan to resolve benefits deadlock
The DA is deeply concerned about the contents of a report presented earlier this week to the Portfolio Committee on Labour regarding the failure of successive ANC administrations to adequately provide retired Eastern Cape mineworkers with pensions and medical benefits. Many of these miners retired before the end of apartheid, and were therefore denied access to basic employee benefits. Unfortunately, little progress has been made with initiatives launched by the South African government after 1994 to correct this state of affairs.
The delay in resolving this matter is in large part due to the continuous stalling of talks between the Portfolio Committee on Labour, the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources, government departments and the unions representing these retired miners. To date, the following departments and entities have been involved in this matter, without achieving proper resolution of any of the concerns raised by the mineworkers: Rand Mutual Assurance, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Commission of Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases, the Compensation Fund and the Department of Health.
Initiallly, a task team was established by President Nelson Mandela to investigate the plight of retired mineworkers who had occupational diseases and were left without pensions, and were unable to claim against Rand Mutual Assurance or several other funds during apartheid.
Records were sent to the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases between 1994 and 1996, and the incumbent Eastern Cape Premier subsequently appointed a task team to tackle the issue in 2002.
In 2003, a list of 18500 applicants was compiled by government for investigation, and the Chamber of Mines donated R54 million to assist with claims for these workers. In 2007, Parliament established an ad-hoc committee to investigate the matter, following which an interdepartmental task team was appointed.
Since 2010, when several hundred retired mineworkers protested outside Parliament regarding their lack of benefits, the joint Parliamentary Committee has traveled to the Eastern Cape twice to meet with the two unions representing these mine workers. It appears that they are on the verge of engaging in further protest action.
These problems are compounded by the general state of disarray at the Commission of Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (CCOID). This Wednesday, the CCOID reported to the Health Portfolio Committee in Parliament. My colleague Mike Waters, the DA's Shadow Minister of Health, who was in attendance at this meeting, is also deeply concerned about the issue.
The DA is deeply concerned by the financial disarray at the CCOID, and the extent of the application backlog. Currently 13 000 applications are waiting to be processed- with a processing time of approximately three years per case. 260 mines are compelled to pay levies to the Commission and approximately 50 mines, including Aurora, are in arrears. Due to the chaotic state of the CCOID's finances, it is not clear how much these mines owe and what interest and penalties should be imposed for late or non-payment. Some mines appear to have evaded payment for years.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) proposes the following five-step plan to resolve the benefits crisis facing retired Eastern Cape mineworkers once and for all:
1) A full list of the 18500 retired mineworkers needs to be compiled by the Interdepartmental Task Team reflecting who has been paid, who will be paid in future, and who is not entitled to receive payment.
2) This list needs to be published in all Eastern Cape newspapers and media calling all who have not yet collected payments to urgently contact the Interdepartmental Task Team.
3) The final list needs to be presented to the unions representing the retired mineworkers to enable them to assist their members in claiming outstanding payments.
4) The Zuma administration needs to exert the necessary political will to ensure this matter is satisfactorily resolved.
5) A complete audit of the CCOID needs to be completed at the soonest possible juncture, which should be followed by the implementation of a turnaround plan and stronger accountability mechanisms.
In light of the continued delays by this administration- and those that preceded it- in effectively tacking this issue, I will be writing to the relevant ministers to put forward the DA's proposed plan, and to ascertain how the Zuma government intends resolving this situation.
Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, June 19 2011
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