LETTER: Migrant labour has a long, ignored chapter

Jabulani Sikhakhane’s account of the role of migrant labour from the rural areas of SA and neighbouring countries is an essential one in understanding our history (“Minerals Council’s migrant labour move closes a sordid chapter”, March 22). However, the view that phasing out the recruitment of workers from neighbouring countries “closes a chapter” risks concealing another chapter that is by no means closed.

There is no reliable figure of the number of former miners still alive in labour sending countries. Between 1973 and 2012 1.6-million miners were recruited or registered by TEBA, the primary mining recruiting agency (an under-estimate of total recruitment, since many miners bypassed TEBA). Of these more than 50% were cross-border migrant workers in the early years, predominantly from Lesotho and Mozambique, declining to 8%-10% most recently. To these numbers should be added the children and widows of deceased miners, many from work-related causes. While closing the borders to mining job seekers suits the current political climate, it will add further deprivation to some of the poorest areas of the region. 

Besides the historical debt to these countries, there is the literal debt of R4bn unclaimed or unpaid in miners’ pension and provident funds, and millions more in unpaid disease compensation. Barriers to the transfer of these funds to rural beneficiaries unfamiliar with these benefits are many — tracing difficulties, lack of  the correct ID and service documents, onerous tax and cross-border banking requirements, and (ultimately) lack of political will on the part of governments on both sides.

Along with historical claims, under SA law all former miners are entitled to post-employment medical examinations for lung disease, of which silicosis and TB are the most important, as well as post-mortem examinations. This law is a legacy of century of often bitter negotiation between white miners, the industry and the various regimes, and was never constructed with migrant workers in mind. As a result, facilities for medical examination of former miners and an administrative system to assist with compensation applications are deficient or absent in areas where former migrants live.

There has been some mitigation in recent years as a result of settlement of civil litigation and an upgrading of the compensation and information systems covering former miners.  Ex-mineworkers have also found their voice through independent associations. However, achieving justice for the ex-miner population is a matter for the long haul, even as the industry decision to phase out cross-border recruitment within the next eight years earns political approval.

Prof Rodney Ehrlich
UCT Division of Occupational Medicine

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