Steps are being taken to facilitate the release of R6-billion in financial benefits that remain undisbursed to close on 500 000 former migrant mineworkers.

Most of the money belongs to ex-mineworkers from Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho, Southern Africa Trust deputy executive director Dr Bheki Moyo told Mining Weekly in a video interview.

Correct documentation and lack of awareness of proper procedures were major stumbling blocks, Moyo said.

The Southern Africa Trust and the Ford Foundation are working in collaboration with the Southern Africa Miners Association to assist the ex-mineworkers and their beneficiary nominees to access the funds.

A two-day dialogue was scheduled to take place in Pretoria on February 27 and 28 in a bid to facilitate access to a range of unpaid benefits.

A call has gone out to the Mineworkers Provident Fund, which is said to hold an estimated R3-billion of the R6-billion, to assist in the facilitation of access to the monies and putting in place a regional mechanism for the improved portability of social benefits so that they can be accessed from regional countries.

The remaining R3-billion is scattered in other schemes.

The Southern Africa Trust, set up nearly eight years ago, has a mandate to eradicate regional poverty and the Southern Africa Miners Association is the culmination of the former National Associations of Ex Miners.

The dialogue, a follow-up to a number of activities, brings together government officials from the Southern African Development Community, members of the regional chambers of mines and the financial institutions involved.

“If there is no proper documentation, no financial institution will release that money. So that’s the challenge that has to be addressed by the ex-miners and the associations that are helping them,” Moyo told Mining Weekly.

“There may also be challenges where the financial institution is actually slow in disbursing those amounts. So we need to find common ground,” he said, adding that there was no contestation around the money being due.

Needed was the introduction of a mechanism for effective disbursement.