UDM says billions paid but many miners still excluded
· Citizen
While mining firms have begun paying billions in compensation to former mineworkers who contracted occupational diseases, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) insists the process must go further to reach those still excluded.
The party has urged mining houses to intensify efforts to identify and assist beneficiaries who remain unable to access the money due to them.
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This after the Tshiamiso Trust, established by major mining companies, recently announced that it had paid out R2.7 billion to former mineworkers and their dependants.
Mining compensation must go further – UDM
The trust manages thousands of claims for workers who contracted silicosis or tuberculosis working in gold mines between 12 March, 1965, and 10 December, 2019.
UDM secretary-general Bulelani Bobotyane said no worker or community must again be forced to sacrifice their health in silence.
The UDM is concerned as many claims have not been finalised.
The party warns that the process must not become so technical, slow, or inaccessible that vulnerable former mineworkers and dependants are excluded simply because they lack documents, medical records, death certificates or the resources to navigate the system.