Some 60 000 former mineworkers have now come forward to claim R5-billion in unpaid pension, provident fund and service-award claims.
The 60 000 are from the traditional labour- sending areas of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the North West, in South Africa, and the neighbouring States of Mozambique, Swaziland and Botswana.
To date, the rate of payout of the unpaid benefits has been slow, however.
“We’re not discouraged, though, because we believe that projects like this typically start slowly and then take off,” says Teba CEO Graham Herbert in a video interview.
So far, Teba has submitted some 400 completed claims to the Mines 1970s Fund, which it assumes have been paid, and has established another 500 cases from the newer Mine Workers Provident Fund (MWPF) that can be readily concluded.
A total of 200 000 former mineworkers and their beneficiaries have unpaid claims and one-million awards require analysis.
Often more than one fund in different commodity groups owe ex-mineworkers money and the 112-year-old Teba – headed by executive chairperson Dr James Motlatsi, a former 40c-a-shift mineworker and founding president of the National Union of Mineworkers – is able to verify claims with the help of a database that contains more than 1.5-million records.
Teba’s service to former mineworkers and their beneficiaries is free of charge, in contrast to some other private operators who charge up to 50% of the outstanding amounts, which can be R50 000 or R100 000 in charges, leaving beneficiaries with only half of what they are owed.
The Financial Services Board (FSB), which regulates retirement funds and insurers, is said to be concerned about the charging of what it regards as exorbitant fees.
“If our back office processes are properly aligned to those of FSB, we see massive efficiency,” says Herbert.
The colossal benefits backlog prompted the Southern Africa Trust, the Ford Foundation and the Southern Africa Miners Association to host a conference in February at which consultant Dr Mathais Nyenti called for action in the interests of regional poverty eradication.
It was reported that the unpaid amounts included R3-billion owed by the MWPF, R200-million by the 1970s Fund, R101-million by the Sentinel Mining Industry Retirement Fund, R180-million by the Rand Mutual Assurance Company and R1.2-billion by the Fidentia-linked Living Hands Umbrella Trust.
Moreover, the Department of Labour’s compensation commissioner for occupational diseases is said to have a backlog of 18 000 claims and its Compensation Fund a backlog of 12 000 claims.
“It’s clear that a large number of people still need to receive their benefits and, therefore, it is imperative that something be done to assist these people,” Nyenti stated at the time.
Former mineworkers are said to be hampered by a lack information on access rights, procedures and administrative formalities and are largely unassisted by social security laws.
However, changes to the Pension Funds Act now allow for a portion of the interest that has been accruing on the claims to go towards tracing costs.
Current disbursement methods need urgent reform to prevent the already large financial backlog from growing even larger.