JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The reformation of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (ODMWA) and its alignment to the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act needs to be settled before year-end, Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant said on Monday.

During an ‘Integration of Compensation Systems’ workshop, hosted by law firm Bowman Gilfillan, he noted that the issue, which included a significant backlog of current claims, had been dragging for many years.

“The initial timeframe that was given [was set] for 2017. This problem has been outstanding for many years. We need to finish it this year,” he asserted, adding that the “ball was dropped before”.

Oliphant further stated that the Department of Mineral Resources had mobilised all role-players to agree that the reformation was “something worth tackling”.

Mining industry representatives, including from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the Chamber of Mines (CoM), supported the renewed initiative.

NUM health and safety chairperson Peter Bailey stated that the reignition needed to culminate in a result that would not rewrite all the work that had been done to date, but rather complement it, while CoM health adviser Dr Thuthula Balfour-Kaipa noted that the process could be fast-tracked.

She said that, in its current form, the ODMWA represented Swiss cheese. “The Act, over the years, has been cut out, with the Mine Health and Safety Act taking out the heart of the ODMWA. This piece of legislation is really in tatters.”

Both representatives highlighted that there was an increased need for a fair, equitable and sustainable compensation system for mineworkers.

AMCU national health and safety chairperson Gabriel Nkosi agreed, stating that the review needed to, through a national conference, result in the establishment of new legislation that established a tariff system that covered all occupational injuries and diseases.

AMCU and NUM agreed that the current form of compensation was unjust and called for it to be free of racial and class discrimination.

“Both Acts speak of black mineworkers in South Africa, who get compensated on the basis of their income, which we know is minute. If I lose my hand, I get compensated on the basis of what my income was, leaving me in complete dire straits. But if a white counterpart loses his hand, he gets compensated way above, as he is a much higher earner than a black worker,” Bailey said.

Meanwhile, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa health coordinator Puleng Mminele said the union was reluctant to commit itself to the process, noting that the agenda was too ambitious.

“Proposals to address a problem that has developed over a 100 years of neglect by the State and industry, involving tens of thousands of mineworkers, cannot be formulated over a two-day workshop,” he argued.