department of labour: 1 progress report on ex mineworkers 16 november 2010 progress report on ex...

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Department of Labour: 1 Progress Report on Ex Mineworkers 16 November 2010 Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Labour

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Department of Labour:

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Progress Report on Ex Mineworkers16 November 2010

Progress Report on Ex Mineworkers16 November 2010

Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Labour

Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Labour

Department of Labour:

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Background information

The People’s assembly took place in Bhizana in the Eastern Cape from 17 – 19 September 2007.

Parliament established the Ad hoc committee on matters relating to the Ex Mineworkers Union.

A motion was tabled in the National Assembly on September 19, 2007 to establish a Committee to look into the concerns of the Ex Mineworkers Union.

Department of Labour:

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Background information

The following recommendations were made by the Committee:

The Establishment of an Interdepartmental Task Team consisting of the Department of Labour, Department of Health, Department of Minerals and Energy and National Treasury

The main objectives of the Task Team should be:

To process the findings and recommendationsTo trace all the monies that belong to the ex mineworkers and once trace,Publish regular reports on both the electronic and print media

Department of Labour:

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Background information

The Interdepartmental Task Team should be headed by a Senior Official form the Department of Labour

All the claims have to be processed form one office which should be co -ordinated and managed by the ITT

Monies of ex mineworkers that can not be traced must be transferred to the state

All documents kept by stakeholders that could assist in tracing beneficiaries should be surrendered to the ITT and kept by the Department of Labour

The Portfolio Committee on Labour should play an oversight role in the implementation of the recommendations and should receive regular briefings from the ITT

Department of Labour:

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Overall Progress since recommendations

The Interdepartmental Task Team and the Provincial Steering Committee have been constituted by the Department of Labour.

Regular meetings have been held by the Interdepartmental Task Team and the Provincial Steering Committee

The Interdepartmental Task Team has made recommendations to the Portfolio Committee of Labour after it was constituted

Ex mine workers have started to receive payments from the Department of Health and the Department of Labour

Contact with TEBA has been made

Department of Labour:

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Overall Progress

The former Minister Of Labour, has addressed the ex mine workers and announced through the media the work of the Interdepartmental Task Team

He urged those who have legitimate claims to come forward and urged them to bring adequate documentation to validate CCOD claims.

He also engaged TEBA to provide the Interdepartmental Task Team with outstanding information.

Department of Labour:

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The BriefThe Brief

As per the Labour Portfolio Committee’s request, the Department of Labour (DoL), through the UI Commissioner as the Chairperson of IDTT will:

Provide feedback on the progress made so far on the issue of payment of ex mineworkers

Make recommendations to the Portfolio Committee

Department of Labour:

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Unemployment Insurance FundUnemployment Insurance Fund

DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR (UIF)

Progress

A total of 457 payments to the value of R2m has been paid to ex mine workers. The UIF has paid an additional R500 000 to claimants from Ex mine workers since the last presentation to Parliament.

Challenges facing the Department of Labour

Information with regard to the period of service in the mine is not available. Information about the last salary of the claimants is not available. Some of the applicants do not have Bank accounts

Department of Labour:

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Solutions

Additional information is needed to accelerate payment. We gave the office of the Minister of Labour information that we require from TEBA.

We have been able to get hold of TEBA and we have supplied them with the request for additional information on 83 cases to facilitate payments

Phase two has started and new applications and new lists are being taken and processed.

Department of Labour:

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Department of HealthDepartment of Health

Progress

200 applications received

Only six payments have been paid since the appearance of the task team in Parliament.

111 applications are being processed.

65 queries have been raised on the applications

18 applications are without reference numbers and it is difficult to process them.

Department of Labour:

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Department of Health: Challenges

More than one claimants for a claim

Lack of adequate information to process claims hence, there are queries that have been raised in certain applications.

Only R2m disbursed out of R20 m which is equivalent to only 10% of the available amount to be claimed.

CCOD is experiencing some difficulty in obtaining legitimate claimants through the names on the list given.

The witnesses are not the family members as agreed as a Steering committee

Outstanding claimants banking details

Affidavits confirming the relationship of the claimant to the miner are prepared by tribal authorities of other districts

Department of Labour:

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Challenges

• Affidavits confirming the relationship of the claimant to the miner are prepared by tribal authorities of other districts

• The ratio of fraudulent claims to authentic claims is increasing on a daily basis, which could be an indication that some of these miners never existed so the chance of the relatives coming forward is minimal.

• The above statistics are confirming that there are fewer claims received on a quarterly basis

Department of Labour:

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Department of Health: Proposed Solutions

Leadership of ex mine workers will help to provide outstanding information.

Second phase of taking applications has been initiated. The Provincial Steering Committee has discussed this process in their meeting.

Advocacy campaigns will be conducted through the media.

We may need to close the project at the end of this Financial Year, 31March 2010, and use the unclaimed money for development in the Eastern Cape.

Department of Labour:

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Rand Mutual AssuranceRand Mutual Assurance

RMA has received a list of 18 569 claimants from ex mine workers

All the 18 569 cases have been checked against the records of the of RMA. Only 20 cases have been registered with RMA and have subsequently been finalised.

RMA proposes that there is nothing more they can do and regard this process as closed.

Department of Labour:

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Overall Challenges facing the Project Lack of resources ring fenced to execute the task such

as:

Finance – there is no budget that has been allocated to the activities of the Inter Departmental Task Team. The Department of Labour is paying for the activities of the Interdepartmental Task Team.

Human Resources – lack of full time staff allocated to the Interdepartmental Task Team. Staff do their normal day to day activities over and above the IDTT.

Department of Labour:

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Thank youThank you