Bongani Mgwali was only 26 when he left his home in Sikhobeni village in Mthatha to work in the mines, believing the opportunity would allow him to earn enough money to support his struggling family back home.
But after 15 years in the industry, worsening health forced him to return home about six years ago.
“I cannot work now. I started developing these terrible bouts of headaches while still in the mines and would get dizzy and sometimes fall,” he said.
“I was released [from work] for medical reasons.”
Now 46, Mgwali has found life back home tough. His deteriorating health has left him unable to work and struggling to support his family.
“My health has deteriorated to such a point that I cannot stand on my legs for too long. But what is even more painful is that I had to leave my job because my sickness affected my ability to stand on my legs.
“As if that was not enough, though they gave me some of my money, I was told the rest had gone towards my provident fund contribution. To this day, I have never received a cent of that money.”
But there could finally be hope for former mineworkers such as Mgwali who returned home because of illness, injury or other circumstances.
Premier Oscar Mabuyane recently revealed that more than R1.897bn in compensation and benefits had been paid to more than 24,200 former mineworkers, widows and their dependants in the Eastern Cape through the government’s Project Thubalethu initiative.
However, he said about R10bn remained unclaimed by more than one million former mineworkers and their families across SA.
An estimated 370,000 former mineworkers live in the Eastern Cape, giving the province one of the country’s largest concentrations of potential beneficiaries.
Mabuyane appealed to traditional leaders to help trace eligible former mineworkers and their families, saying many people remained unaware that they could be entitled to compensation for occupational diseases, injuries and other mine-related benefits.
“For generations, many people from the Eastern Cape left their homes to work in South Africa’s mines. Many returned with injuries, occupational diseases such as silicosis and tuberculosis, or left families struggling after their deaths. These men and women deserve justice, recognition and dignity,” he said.
“We are turning commitments into realities. Akukho mntu ongazokuyiclaima imali yakhe yasezimayini — sikhona!
“Working together with relevant government departments and partners, including Thubalethu, SAEC, RMA, Health and the Department of Employment and Labour, we are making every effort to ensure that qualifying ex-mineworkers and beneficiaries are assisted to claim what rightfully belongs to them.”
Mgwali was among hundreds of former mineworkers from King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality who attended an ex-mineworkers screening programme at the Jerald Raymond Hawkes Stadium in Mthatha on Sunday.
They were able to verify their records, check and follow up on unpaid benefits and claims, and undergo health checks as part of Project Thubalethu. A similar programme was held in Mqanduli on Thursday.
The initiative is being implemented in partnership with the Eastern Cape Office of the Premier, SA Ex-Mineworkers Council, Rand Mutual Assurance, and the departments of health, employment and labour, and social development.
Several former mineworkers told the Dispatch of chronic illnesses and permanent injuries they suffered during their years on the mines. Some said they had been consigned to poverty because they could no longer work, while others survived on pensions insufficient to cover their medical and household expenses.
Mgwali said he was on regular medication and his condition severely limited his employment prospects.
“I have missed out on a lot of opportunities and I am now really struggling. I cannot work anywhere because my health is deteriorating. I am still young but there is nowhere I can be employed now,” he said.
His father was also a mineworker, but Mgwali said the family had never received money they believed was due to him, despite several attempts to obtain assistance from institutions including TEBA.
Fellow Sikhobeni villager Zola Mzazi started working on the mines in 1980 and over the years worked at several operations, including Sibanye gold mines.
After 36 years, he returned home and is now struggling to survive. The 61-year-old is diabetic, takes chronic medication and relies on a government pension to support himself and his family.
“To tell you the truth, I am like an empty box. I look good on the outside but inside, the body is damaged. Most of my organs are shattered now,” Mzazi said.
A 64-year-old Mbozwana resident who worked at Lonmin mines from 1996 to 2013 said he contracted TB twice while working there before eventually returning to the Eastern Cape.
“I don’t want to lie, I started bunking work so they could fire me,” he said.
He said he received about R80,000 after leaving the mine, but the money soon ran out and he survived by doing odd jobs around his village.
He also walks with a limp and cannot stand for long after breaking his left leg in a bicycle accident when he was younger. His children and grandchildren now depend on his pension.
Sipho Mbhotoli worked at Lonmin platinum and chrome mines from 1984 to 2017. He has four children who are still at school and said the roughly R150,000 he received after leaving his job had long since run out.
He now suffers from chest problems, despite having been given a clean bill of health when he left the mines.
Mbhotoli welcomed efforts to help former mineworkers claim benefits that could still be due to them.
Widows are also hoping the project will provide answers.
Nosandile Lamani, 53, attended the programme after her husband, who left the mines in 1980, died in 2017 while trying to obtain money he believed was owed to him. She said he had developed chest problems after returning home.
Nokuphumla Dadlana’s husband returned home from the mines on oxygen after contracting Covid-19 and died in 2021.
“It has been too difficult for me. I am hungry. We have children who need to go to school and there is no money,” the Gubevu villager said.
Project Thubalethu steering committee and SA Ex-Mineworkers Council member Sonwabile Xaba said many former mineworkers had returned to the Eastern Cape suffering from serious occupational diseases and injuries, while others had died.
“According to national records, about 47% of ex-miners, from official records starting in 1965, have died, leaving wives and dependants,” he said.
Xaba said the former Transkei region accounted for about 78% of registered former mineworkers, while many others were still not reflected in official government records.
He said the poor health of returning mineworkers also placed additional pressure on the Eastern Cape’s already strained public health system.
Daily Dispatch
