Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana says government will settle all outstanding pensions and compensation claims of former Lesotho migrant workers who were employed in this country's mines.

Minister Mdladlana was speaking at a meeting between himself and the Lesotho Minister of Employment and Labour, Mpeo Mahase Moiloa, in Pretoria.

The meeting was aimed at reviving the labour agreement the two countries entered into in 1973, which, according to the two ministers had become obsolete.

Mdladlana said South Africa employed about 300 000 Lesotho nationals at any given time, most of whom were in the mining industry.

He said the pledge to settle all outstanding pensions and compensation claims paved the way for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be completed within a month.

“The MoU is expected to address areas of co-operation such as social dialogue and dispute resolution.

“The reason we decided to take the route of the MoU is because we want issues related to compensation and pension claims to be addressed urgently since we do not want to see families of these workers starving,” said Mdladlana.

His counterpart minister Mahase-Moiloa said they wanted to ensure that Lesotho nationals in South Africa were there legally and employers did not exploit them.

She said her visit coincided with the review of labour laws in Lesotho and hoped to learn from South Africa.

During the two-day visit, minister Mahase-Moiloa will also visit NEDLAC, a tripartite institution for social dialogue between labour, business and government, the Compensation Fund and Department of Labour's Gauteng North provincial office.

Mdladlana said South Africa had already concluded similar agreements with Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

A week ago, Zimbabwean Labour and Social Affairs Minister Nicholas Goche met Minister Mdladlana in Beit Bridge to regularise the status of Zimbabwean migrant workers employed in South Africa. - BuaNews