In 2018 a class-action on behalf of former mineworkers won a landmark case. In 2019 a settlement of 5 billion rand (£268 million) was secured in compensation for miners from across Southern Africa who contracted TB and silicosis working in South African mines. However, in a shocking move, the Trustees of the Tshiamiso Trust, set up to administers those funds, have placed more red tape in the way of sick and dying miners claiming their compensation.
It has recently emerged that the Tshiamiso Trust has quietly moved to change the Trust deed without consultation or transparency. The move adds yet more bureaucracy to an already slow and drawn-out process.
Rachel Palma Randle, Director of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA): “The move to prevent the use of MBOD certificates will have devastating consequences for hundreds of thousands of former miners and their families.”
Bishop Jo Seoka, Chair of Justice for Miners (JFM), said: “This is not an administrative adjustment. It is a profound injustice dressed up as a procedural change. The men who built South Africa’s gold mining industry with their bodies deserve the compensation they were promised — not new bureaucratic obstacles designed to frustrate their claims.”
Lord Peter Hain, deputy vice president of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), said: “This is a slap in the face of hundreds of thousands of mine workers who worked hard for their living and paid the price with their health. Eight years ago the courts found Anglo American and five others liable and the trust was set up to pay the miners. The vast majority are still waiting for justice and compensation. It’s a grave injustice and a disgrace”.
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