A strategy was required to improve the portability of social security benefits of migrant mineworkers, Southern Africa Trust consultant Dr Mathais Nyenti said last week.

Speaking at a regional dialogue hosted by the Southern Africa Trust and the Ford Foundation, in conjunction with the Southern Africa Miners Association, in Pretoria, Nyeti pointed out that about 86% of migrant workers from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe were currently working in South Africa.

He also mentioned that, according to the Southern Africa Trust’s calculations, in 2013, about R5.7-billion in benefits was owed to former migrant workers.

This included an estimated R3-billion owed by the Mineworkers Provident Fund, while the Mines 1970s Pension and Provident Funds owed R200-million, the Sentinel Mining Industry Retirement Fund owed about R101-million and the Living Hands Umbrella Trust lost R1.2-billion in the Fidentia scandal.

Further, the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases currently had a backlog of 18 000 claims, with up to 274 400 former mineworkers still to receive their benefits, while the Compensation Fund still had about 12 000 claimants to pay.

Lastly, the Rand Mutual Assurance Company also had about R180-million in outstanding claims and unpaid benefits, he said.

“It is clear that a large number of people still need to receive their benefits and, therefore, it is imperative that something is done to assist these people,” Nyeti stated.

Nyeti, in conjunction with consultant Professor George Mpedi, conducted a scoping study in 2013 on behalf of the Southern Africa Trust on the challenges experienced by former mineworkers in selected Southern African countries relating to the portability of social security benefits. They identified the main challenges faced by migrant workers in accessing the benefits owed to them.

“Former mineworkers are faced by daunting social, structural, policy or regulatory, administrative and institutional obstacles,” Mpedi said, also speaking at the dialogue.

These challenges included migrants’ or dependants’ lack of information on access rights, procedures and administrative formalities, the impact of South African immigration law, the absence of portability or limited portability arrangements in South African social security laws and a lack of institutional capacity.

There was also a lack of administrative cooperation between various schemes, delays in payment of benefits and professional occupational health services were often inaccessible to the former workers.

Delivering the benefits due to mineworkers was also hampered by differences in national banking systems, a weak regional framework for occupational injury and disease protection, and the limited application of international standards in relevant countries.