R2.53bn paid to 26,300 claimants, but many more still wait
The Tshiamiso Trust, set up to administer the R5bn settlement for mineworkers who contracted silicosis and work-related TB, says it has paid R2.53bn to 26,300 eligible claimants cumulatively. The figure was presented at the trust's annual general meeting on Friday, alongside a 64% jump in claim lodgements during the 2025/2026 reporting year.
According to the trust, claim lodgements rose from 8,131 in 2024/2025 to 13,337 in 2025/2026. During the reporting period, the trust conducted 9,486 benefit medical examinations (BMEs) and paid R534m in compensation to 4,884 eligible claimants. In total, the trust has processed 156,924 completed lodgements, with a lodgement-to-payment conversion of 17%.
The trust was constituted in 2020 to implement a settlement agreement between six mining companies and claimant attorneys. Those companies are African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American South Africa, AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Stillwater, and Gold Fields.
Claims services are delivered through 42 lodgement centres across South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Outreach during the year focused particularly on Lesotho and the Eastern Cape, where significant claimant populations live.
Trust chairperson May Hermanus said the trust has entered a high-throughput phase. "Our ability to deliver at scale, while maintaining fairness, consistency and accountability, is critical," she said in her report.
Concerns grow as deadline approaches
The trust is entering the final three years of its mandate, and former mineworkers and widows who attended the AGM expressed frustration over long waits, changing documentation requirements, and difficulties accessing medical examinations.
Lesotho accounts for the most successful claims — 10,329 so far, worth R970m. Zimbabwe presents a starkly different picture: by the end of June, 827 claims had been lodged there, but none had been paid.
Tshiamiso Trust CEO Dr Munyadziwa Kwinda attributed the lack of payments in Zimbabwe to difficulties establishing claimants' employment histories. Activist David Muniwa said former Wenela mineworkers were losing hope after being given high expectations before and after the signing of a memorandum of understanding. He said ex-miners blame the government and the Zimbabwe National Social Security Authority for lack of updates and slow progress, and questioned what would happen to Zimbabwean claimants if their claims were not resolved before the trust's lifespan ended.
Concerns are not limited to Zimbabwe. Thamsanqa Silitshena, based in Botswana, said the initiative was not reaching potential claimants in other parts of the region.
Widow's years-long struggle highlights documentation hurdles
In South Africa, widow Nonkolelo Jijingubo described her struggle to obtain compensation for her late husband, Thembinkosi, who died of TB at St Helena Hospital in Welkom, Free State, on December 4 2009. She said when she registered her husband's claim with the trust in June 2021, the process became a years-long struggle. In 2023, she was told she needed a letter of authority, then a three-month death notice — she still has not received money.
Catherine Meyburgh of Justice for Miners questioned why claimants were required to undergo BMEs instead of relying on ODMWA certificates, and whether changes to MBOD standards had affected the process. Lawyer Richard Spoor said benefit examinations are a significant cost to the trust and that ODMWA examinations should be readily available. Spoor also said the trust is doing all the heavy lifting and that the issue deserved greater attention from civil society.
Trust sees progress, plans expansion
Trust CEO Munyadziwa Kwinda said the focus is to reach more eligible claimants and ensure every eligible claimant is compensated. The trust noted that amendments to the trust deed have enabled it to resume assessment of previously deferred claims, and it plans to focus on accelerating outreach, streamlining processing, and resolving employment history records in Zimbabwe. Trust services will also be extended to Malawi for the first time.
Hermanus noted that the current administration budget will not be sufficient to sustain current operations for the trust's full lifespan, and that the trust is engaging with settling parties to secure necessary resources.