Sickly 77-year-old Steven Bambela left his home in the Transkei to seek his fortune on the gold mines in the late 1950s.
He was just one of the “many” village men recruited to work on Anglo American gold mines. He landed a job at Buffelsfontein gold mine near Stilfontein in what today is the North West Province.
Bambela remembers travelling for “days” to get there and remained on the mines for “months” working at a job that was terminated each year. The following year he would do it all over again, joining the throngs of young men – and sometimes even boys – from different villages across the Transkei making their way to the mines.
“Every man in the village went to work in the mines. We were happy, we were going to make money to build our homes and get married. And we did that,” he said.
Since joining in 1959, Bambela only ever worked at Buffelsfontein as a mining assistant until he retired in the 1990s. But just after that he started to suffer ill health.
“I could not breathe. I went to the hospital and I was told that I was suffering from TB (silico-tuberculosis). I tried talking to the company but I was told that as I was already retired there was nothing they could do,” said Bambela, adding that he had since been in and out of hospital.
His case is not an isolated one. Buyisile Nogaga, 80, had to spend three months in Tafalofefe hospital in Centane due to asthma.
Nogaga, who worked for Hartbeesfontein gold mine, also in the North West, said his life changed after he discovered he had TB.
“Many retired people work in their gardens so they can have healthy meals but I can’t. I am sick. Actually I am not alone as in every third house you will find a man who worked in the mine very sick or one who has died,” he said.
Nogaga said they worked on the mines without proper protective gear which had never been given to them.
“We would come out of the mine covered with dust. We could not complain, we worked not knowing that when we retired we will come home to die,” he said.
“We are alive to tell the story, many of us have long since died.” l (See video).
Both Bambela and Nogaga are from Willowvale’s Lubomvana village.
Headman Maboy Ntshonga said they had buried a number of ex-miners suffering from TB.
“I can confirm that many of the people from this village depend on the mines for survival. We’ve lost a number of men. Many came home to die because of the illnesses they got from the mine,” Ntshonga said
“We hope the compensation will help the families and the sick miners.”
Nogaga said: “The truth is we’ve made billions of rands for these companies but when we claim for money so we can buy medication we are sent from pillar to post.
“It is true that many of us won’t be paid, many of us will die poor. But one day the truth will prevail.”