Question NW2261 to the Minister of Health

Reply:

1. According to the Compensation Commissioner the campaign to compensate former miners with Tuberculosis and/or Silicosis began in 2014 and is ongoing.. The programme has received renewed attention in the past 8 years.

1. The total number of persons who were assisted in the past three years is indicated in the table below:

Details	1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021	1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022	1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023	Total
Number of TB claims paid	3 264	3 900	4 742	11 906
Amount of TB paid	R32 126 827	R33 696 731	R46 106 033	R111 929 591
Number of Silicosis claims paid	1 419	1 034	1 236	3 689
Amount of Silicosis paid	R121 276 176	R88 201 178	R102 547 449	R312 024 803

1. The Deputy Minister of Health, (Hon) Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, working closely with the Deputy Ministers of Employment and Labour and Mineral Resources and Energy, provincial and neighbouring country governments, other social protection and class action settlement funds, trade unions and the ex-miners’ associations. has been leading the programme on outreach activities for former miners There is also a call centre (080 100 0240) that former miners can call to query their claim status.

It must be noted that the majority of former miners are in labour sending areas such as the Eastern Cape, Lesotho and Mozambique and thus the outreach campaigns assist in bringing services closer to the towns / districts where the former miners live. In the last five months of 2023, outreach activities were undertaken in two districts in KwaZulu-Natal and three districts in the Eastern Cape. Former miners can also access compensation claims services at fixed hospital facilities in Mthatha, Carletonville, Kuruman and Burgersfort.

END.