WHERE IS E7M FOR EX-MINERS?

MBABANE – Where is the E7 million that was pumped into the voluntary deferred pay special fund for ex-miners?
This question was posed by the former miners who said they were inquisitive over the money that they claimed should be given to them at this difficult time posed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The miners claimed that it had been over two years since they last heard anything concerning the funding that was deduced from their salaries as a benefit which they were entitled to upon return home from South Africa.

 It was estimated that over 1 000 ex-miners stood to benefit from the fund.
It was gathered that about 1 000 of them had recorded their views to a commission that was investigating the benefits of the ex miners.

Struggling

One of the ex-miners said there was no better time for government to release the fund to them than now as they were struggling to make ends meet due to circumstances that saw their silicosis and TB benefits distribution delayed.

“The last time I checked, the money was with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and its intended purpose was for the ex-miners to form cooperatives and start businesses. Nothing has been said about the fund in many years and we implore the ministry to give us access to the fund so that we explore means to get income in these difficult times,” he submitted.

Swaziland Migrant Mineworkers Association General Secretary Vama Jele confirmed knowledge of the fund. He said it was a voluntary deferred pay special to be used by former miners upon return home. He said every one of them used to get the money when they came back to the country.
He added that it was around 1998 and 2000 when many ex-miners were swindled on pretence of getting other benefits. They hired buses and travelled to Welkom, South Africa where many of them had been employed to demand answers regarding the fund.

Claims

Jele said claims of people being paid were made but none ever received the money. He said widows and ex-miners were meeting under trees discussing this Welkom issue.

“It pulled a lot of interest to many. A Commission of Inquiry was gazetted by Parliament in 2000. The Commission of Inquiry was chaired by Titus Mlangeni and Khabonina Dlamini was the Secretary. More than 1 000 ex-miners recorded their views to the commission. Then the commission went to South Africa to meet other key stakeholders such Teba, Chamber of Mines and others,” he said.

 Jele said in South Africa, the commission was unable to meet the stakeholders except Teba. He said the inquiry finally came up with E7 million which was held by two local banks. The money was managed by Voluntary Deferred Pay Special Fund Board.

He said it was made of government department officials and regulated by the Finance Act under the Ministry of Finance. He said they came with concrete recommendations which called for the fund to be managed under the Ministry of Labour, devising means of utilisation of the funds and incorporating ex-miners representative into the fund board.

 “It was during this time that the voluntary deferred pay special fund issue became public information. Then Minister of Labour Lutfo Dlamini publicly declared the E7 million fund and also declared the gazetted board that was entrusted with the fund which was chaired by the Principal Secretary of the ministry at the time,” he explained.

He said the minister advocated that ex-miners should come forth with ideas on how to utilise the fund.
“There were a lot of propositions and some of them were welcomed while others were thrown out the window. Some of them suggested that it should be distributed fairly to the ex-miners while others made submissions that it should be invested in cooperatives or income generating schemes,” he said.

Successful

He stated that Parliament at the time formed a Select Committee led by Magwagwa Mdluli who made his own report and the conclusion was that the money be loaned out to the claimants who eventually came through to make requests and were successful. However, it was not established the minimum or maximum sum each person got in loans.

“That was the arrangement that was made between the Board and another financial institution at a value of E2.5 million which was a commitment towards surety of the money that was loaned out by the institution to the people,” he added.

Jele said the money was still with the financial institutions as government did not move it. He said the board which would be the custodian of the money had not been instituted yet and for this reason, there was nothing being said about the money now.

Ministry of Labour and Social Security Principal Secretary Thulani Mkhaliphi also confirmed knowledge of the fund. He said the voluntary deferred pay meant that the mine workers signed contracts whereby they agreed to get their salaries at the end of their contracts.

Mkhaliphi shared the same sentiments with Jele, stating that the E7 million was made up of interest that had accumulated overtime as the salaries of the mine workers were invested in financial institutions while the miners were still contracted in their place of employment.
“The money did not belong to any individual but it was interest that accumulated while the miners were still in contracts because the arrangement was that they would be salaried when they got back,” he added.

However, TEBA introduced a new system of contracts and the miners shifted from the initial ones to the newly crafted way of remuneration which entailed that they would be salaried each month.

Accumulated

When quizzed how much the money totalled to now, Mkhaliphi said he did not have that information but stated that as the money was invested in credible financial institutions, it was a given that it had accumulated over the years.

 He said the ministry was yet to form a board that would regulate the utilisation of the money so that it could serve its purpose of financially assisting the ex-miners in forming income generating projects.

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