An Eastern Cape miner’s family is distraught after finding out that after 30 years of his working in the mines, they will only get paid a “lousy” R2000.
It was unclear yesterday what the payout was for, with Eastern Cape Teba manager, Sam Moelets, asking for more time to obtain more accurate information.
Moeletsi said the payment “can be more and should be. We avoid putting big amounts in our estimates to avoid creating unnecessary expectations for the family – otherwise we do not know how much will be paid by the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases (MBOD) once claim assessment is done.”
Moeletsi said claimants had to come forward for screening.
“This is to see if they do not qualify for any of the mine benefits, be it unclaimed monies, long service award payments, silicosis-related payments and others.
“Otherwise not everybody qualifies for mine benefits because there are fund rules and requirements to be met.”
The angry Roji family from Mpongo village in Chalumna said they were initially delighted to see the name of their late older sibling, Roy Roji, among the list of beneficiaries listed by Teba in last week’s Saturday Dispatch.
Roji was one of 4000 ex-mineworkers listed to benefit from money kept by provident funds trustees which belonged to miners who retired, were boarded or retrenched from the mines.
Roji died in 2000, 35 years after he joined the mines as a migrant worker through the Teba offices in King William’s Town.
He succumbed to illnesses as a result of what family suspected was silicosis, and died while waiting for a pension pay-out from his former employer.
Wilson, his younger brother, said they were upset by news his late brother would only get a R2000 payout.
“If you calculate what we’re getting, it’s like he contributed a lousy R66. This is daylight robbery. Who do we call to investigate this?”
For the full story get a copy of the Dispatch or subscribe to our e-Edition for the complete newspaper with jobs, classifieds, crosswords, TV schedules and back editions.
Family’s anger at pay out
It was unclear yesterday what the payout was for, with Eastern Cape Teba manager, Sam Moelets, asking for more time to obtain more accurate information.
Moeletsi said the payment “can be more and should be. We avoid putting big amounts in our estimates to avoid creating unnecessary expectations for the family – otherwise we do not know how much will be paid by the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases (MBOD) once claim assessment is done.”
Moeletsi said claimants had to come forward for screening.
“This is to see if they do not qualify for any of the mine benefits, be it unclaimed monies, long service award payments, silicosis-related payments and others.
“Otherwise not everybody qualifies for mine benefits because there are fund rules and requirements to be met.”
The angry Roji family from Mpongo village in Chalumna said they were initially delighted to see the name of their late older sibling, Roy Roji, among the list of beneficiaries listed by Teba in last week’s Saturday Dispatch.
Roji was one of 4000 ex-mineworkers listed to benefit from money kept by provident funds trustees which belonged to miners who retired, were boarded or retrenched from the mines.
Roji died in 2000, 35 years after he joined the mines as a migrant worker through the Teba offices in King William’s Town.
He succumbed to illnesses as a result of what family suspected was silicosis, and died while waiting for a pension pay-out from his former employer.
Wilson, his younger brother, said they were upset by news his late brother would only get a R2000 payout.
“If you calculate what we’re getting, it’s like he contributed a lousy R66. This is daylight robbery. Who do we call to investigate this?”
For the full story get a copy of the Dispatch or subscribe to our e-Edition for the complete newspaper with jobs, classifieds, crosswords, TV schedules and back editions.
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