Ten men have died in Lubomvana village in Willowvale in the past five years due to dust they inhaled from working in gold mines.
This has left many households without breadwinners.
Some of the dead miners were married men with children and extended families they cared for.
The Saturday Dispatch spoke to two widows, who had high hopes of receiving some form of compensation when they heard that Anglo American South Africa and AngloGold Ashanti would pay out R464-million to ex-miners who suffer from silicosis-related illness.
Nopindile Balintulo lost her husband Zilindile after he died from asthma.
Zilindile worked at the Westdriefontein Gold Mine in Carletonville. Balintulo said their two children, who helped care for their father, had also died of TB.
“My children didn’t know what to do. They were helping me care for their father but unfortunately the TB spread to them and they died. He followed them,” she said.
Balintulo said she had been waiting for years to hear news about compensation.
“This is the day our husbands died waiting for. They died in pain, still fighting to get their money. We had to take the baton and fight on, but because of limited funds we had to pull out and only pray that one day things will be fixed,” said Balintulo.
She said she was hoping her family would get “something”.
“Going to bed on empty stomachs is the only thing we know from this home. But losing that man, the father of my children, left me with too much responsibilities,” said Balintulo.
Nokwakha Mpengesi, a mother of eight, said losing her husband Madondile, who was crippled after an accident in the mine, was a massive blow.
“I didn’t expect him to die so soon. We both had responsibilities as our children were still very young,” said Mpengesi.
“I could see though that his chest pains were killing him. I prayed that he must survive but he died.”
Madondile died of bronchopneuominia.
He worked for Western Holdings mines. In 1989 he was crippled in a collapse. He returned home but soon started complaining of chest pains. He died in 2005.
“Since then I’ve been promised that I will get compensation from the mine but because I am an illiterate person I depended on a number of people to help, but nothing came,” she said.
It is not clear yet if these women will benefit from the R464-million compensation pay-out from Anglo American South Africa.
Lawyer Zanele Mbuyisa of Mbuyisa Neale Attorneys said widows needed to provide proof.
“We will need some form of identification for many women who lost their ex-miner husbands before any money is released,” said Mbuyisa.
Families left destitute as miner husbands die
This has left many households without breadwinners.
Some of the dead miners were married men with children and extended families they cared for.
The Saturday Dispatch spoke to two widows, who had high hopes of receiving some form of compensation when they heard that Anglo American South Africa and AngloGold Ashanti would pay out R464-million to ex-miners who suffer from silicosis-related illness.
Nopindile Balintulo lost her husband Zilindile after he died from asthma.
Zilindile worked at the Westdriefontein Gold Mine in Carletonville. Balintulo said their two children, who helped care for their father, had also died of TB.
“My children didn’t know what to do. They were helping me care for their father but unfortunately the TB spread to them and they died. He followed them,” she said.
Balintulo said she had been waiting for years to hear news about compensation.
“This is the day our husbands died waiting for. They died in pain, still fighting to get their money. We had to take the baton and fight on, but because of limited funds we had to pull out and only pray that one day things will be fixed,” said Balintulo.
She said she was hoping her family would get “something”.
“Going to bed on empty stomachs is the only thing we know from this home. But losing that man, the father of my children, left me with too much responsibilities,” said Balintulo.
Nokwakha Mpengesi, a mother of eight, said losing her husband Madondile, who was crippled after an accident in the mine, was a massive blow.
“I didn’t expect him to die so soon. We both had responsibilities as our children were still very young,” said Mpengesi.
“I could see though that his chest pains were killing him. I prayed that he must survive but he died.”
Madondile died of bronchopneuominia.
He worked for Western Holdings mines. In 1989 he was crippled in a collapse. He returned home but soon started complaining of chest pains. He died in 2005.
“Since then I’ve been promised that I will get compensation from the mine but because I am an illiterate person I depended on a number of people to help, but nothing came,” she said.
It is not clear yet if these women will benefit from the R464-million compensation pay-out from Anglo American South Africa.
Lawyer Zanele Mbuyisa of Mbuyisa Neale Attorneys said widows needed to provide proof.
“We will need some form of identification for many women who lost their ex-miner husbands before any money is released,” said Mbuyisa.
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