Occupational diseases

The Hidden Epidemic Amongst Former Miners: Silicosis, Tuberculosis and the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

A powerful indictment upon institutionalised neglect
With this ground-breaking piece of research published by the Health Systems Trust, Jaine Roberts, Deputy Director and an experienced researcher and journalist, shows how neglected is the health care of black former miners who have created much of the wealth of South Africa through their physical sacrifice.

My grandfather, an immigrant, barely made ends meet with farm work when he arrived in South Africa around the start of the 20th century. He was lured into swapping the open fields for underground life as a worker on the gold mines.

The mining industry is going to court to avoid paying nearly 30 times more in statutory levies to the compensation fund that deals with mine workers' claims for occupationally acquired lung diseases.

Thandile Qwalela died in the tuberculosis ward of his Eastern Cape district hospital at the age of 48. He was an underground miner from age 20 who served 17 years as a stoper and winch driver on the gold mines.

The Department of Health is to sign an agreement with the Chamber of Mines and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to kick-start a project to benefit former mineworkers who are seeking compensation for occupational lung diseases.

Many decades after South Africa became aware of conclusive medical evidence of the deadly risks of asbestos, the government is finally acting to protect public health by banning the fibres completely from a wide range of day-to-day building, piping and motor car products.

The burden of disease resulting from working in mines is unacceptably high in South Africa, Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. Speaking in the National Assembly during debate on the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Bill, she said about 25 000 compensation applications were made each year for occupational lung diseases resulting from working in mines. In the past, occupational health has often been neglected, and yet the fact remains that globally over one million workers die from work-related diseases and injuries, and there are over 160-million cases of work-related diseases annually. The amendments in the bill might appear to be minor, but had far-reaching implications, as they will unblock some of the problems experienced thus far, she said. Among other things, the bill extended the length of time during which an ex-miner could apply to be medically examined from six to 24 months. Tshabalala-Msimang said one of the most important provisions in the bill was one that limited commission for agents who assisted mineworkers in accessing compensation. A fee of not more than half a percent of the benefit paid to the sick worker could be charged, and the bill made it an offence to charge more. The measure received the support of all sides of the House, and will now go to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.(Source:SAPA, 22 October 2002)

Gencor ordered to clean up old asbestos mine The Bareki Tribal Authority and the concerned residents of Heuningvlei in the North West province have demanded that Gencor and it’s subsidiary, Gefco, clean up an old mine and mill sites that they believe pose a serious health hazard. One of the greatest concerns is the health of some 50 pupils who attend primary school in a building right on the old mill site. Blue asbestos, one of the most toxic and carcinogenic forms of asbestos, was mined at Heuningvlei until 1979. Inhaling even a few strands of the asbestos is enough to cause mesothelioma, or cancer of the lungs, an extremely painful terminal illness. Many Heuningvlei residents are already suffering from asbestos-related diseases and new cases are being diagnosed each week, said Spoor. Steven Kotoloane of the Heuningvlei Asbestos Interest Group, said people in his community had grown up with asbestos and had come regard the high levels of death and disease caused by asbestos as a normal part of life in the Kalahari. The interest group has joined the Bareki Tribal Authority in demanding the clean-up. According to the letter of demand sent to the chief executive officer of Gefco and Gencor’s directors, the mill site is heavily contaminated with loose asbestos fibres and the asbestos tailing dump is not adequately covered. Although a concrete slab was cast over a part of the mill site containing asbestos fibre, the sides are not sealed and copious quantities of asbestos fibre have been released. Gefco and Gencor have until today (Friday 6 September) to notify the Bareki Tribal Authority and the Heuningvlei Asbestos Interest Group of the steps they propose to take to remedy the situation. Failure to do so will result in the two organisations resorting to court action to force a clean-up. South Africa has the highest rate of mesothelioma in the world, as we were one of a handful of countries that extensively mined the most dangerous blue asbestos. Mesothelioma became a notifiable and scheduled industrial disease in October 1979, the year Heuningvlei closed down. Asbestos products are banned in Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, Belgium and Saudi Arabia. (Kerry Cullinan, Health-e, 05-09-2002)

British-based multinational Cape plc is expected to pay a first tranche of £21-million (about R336-million) in June to a trust set up to aid sufferers from asbestos-related diseases in South Africa. The payment is part of a conditional settlement reached on December 21 last year between the company and lawyers acting for 7 500 asbestos victims in the Northern Cape and Northern Province. The victims contracted asbestos-related diseases as a result of working at, or living in the vicinity of, Cape's former South African mines and mills. Cape also agreed to pay a further £10-million over the next 10 years. According to London lawyer Richard Meeran, whose firm Leigh Day and Co represented the South African plaintiffs in legal actions in Britain, the settlement was unprecedented in its nature. Meeran said the maximum payment would be for victims of mesothelioma (the fatal asbestos-related cancer of the lining of the lungs). They will each receive £5 250. The settlement is conditional on the victims undertaking not to take further action against Cape, but also conditional on the South African government agreeing not to support other victims in any possible future legal actions. In addition, however, Cape wants an assurance from the South African government that the company will be absolved from its legal liability to rehabilitate its mine dumps in South Africa. According to Meeran, it looked probable that the conditions would be met. He said the conditions sounded onerous, but were not the same as selling out. He added that during the legal battle there had been a very real possibility that Cape could have declared insolvency and that claimants would have got nothing. (Source: Sunday Independent, 13 January 2002)