Pretoria - The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources has called for a coordinated approach in dealing with benefits that have not been paid to deserving ex-mineworkers.
Chairperson of the committee Sahlulele Luzipo said a functional payment model was required for paying out benefits due to ex-mineworkers throughout the country.
“This is a sector of our society that knows suffering and has been exposed to the harshest conditions and treatment in the mines. If they have accumulated benefits, which records indicate they have, they should get them,” Luzipo said.
He said the administration which is aimed at paying the former miners cannot afford to fail.
The Committees on Mineral Resources and Labour held a joint meeting to consider the issue involving ex-mineworkers who never received their benefits in the Eastern Cape.
The committees heard that a task team to look into the matter of ex-mineworkers was unable to regularly meet and that there were too many pieces of law regulating mining benefits.
Luzipo said it was important to speedily attend to the matter of ex-mineworkers in totality and the benefits accorded to them.
“Importantly, this kind of work requires that all legislation is synergised and does not become a hindrance to what it seeks to redress.
“But at the same time, the committees cannot afford to create expectation of something they will not be able to deliver on,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
