Chairperson, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, I submit to this House a committee report on matters relating to the ex- Mineworkers' union, and the necessary recommendations for consideration and adoption by this House. This comes after a preliminary report was tabled here and an extension was granted as requested by the ad hoc committee.
These matters emanate from a historical practice of the old regime of creating the wealth of the country through the toil and sweat of mineworkers, who benefited nothing in return. Drawn from small towns, villages and far-flung rural areas, these mineworkers would brave the heat, cold and storms queueing for work in the mines at various Teba offices, as these were recruiting agencies for various mines.
Nobody from the recruitment agencies or none of the mine bosses cared to call these workers by their names, as numbers on their wrists bands were their form of identity. Their addresses were unknown and the areas from which they came were regarded as dormitories from which cheap labour could be extracted. Hailing from all the hinterlands of South and Southern Africa, they would crowd onto various trains heading for various mines.
The report we are tabling is confined to those who came from South Africa. Their work deep down in the belly of the earth was not only dangerous, because little attention was paid to safety, but was also hazardous to their health, leaving various mineworkers with lung and other forms of diseases. The disputes and claims by ex-mineworkers' unions and other unions - we happened to listen to them - came about because of limited compensations paid to ex-mineworkers.
The fragmented manner in which these limited compensations were made, created an assumption amongst ex-mineworkers and their families that a lot should be expected from the mines and government departments, which were later drawn into the process of resolving the matter. This expectation translated into, and was projected in, various protest actions by ex- mineworkers and people related to them.
Whilst claims were made that the ex-mineworkers' union and others, do not have the status of being a union in terms of the Labour Relations Act, LRA, the committee held the view that these were formations whose claims bore legitimacy in many respects and they had a case in their cause. Because there were no proper records kept by the employer and the recruiting agent, Teba, and, to an extent, because of their movement to townships, it became and is still very difficult or impossible to trace or track these ex- mineworkers.
It was most interesting for the committee to observe that each stakeholder interviewed within the process attempted to deny responsibility and shifted the blame to another stakeholder. This was the case in particular with Teba, the Chamber of Mines, the National Union of Mineworkers, Num, and the two provident funds. The committee also found a lot of disjuncture in the manner in which government departments sought to solve the problem, with each department having its own approach.
This opened government departments, and the institutions involved, to forms of exploitative actions against them by the unions and members associated with them. The committee found out that while the benefits were, indeed, paid out to bona fide beneficiaries that could be identified, there are sums that have not been paid out or disbursed and the fragmented system of payment has not been rectified.
Given the unique situation here, there needs to be a co-ordinated approach, and the committee recommended the establishment of an interdepartmental task team that would adequately co-ordinate these matters, as published in the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports, ATCs. As the chairperson of this ad hoc committee, I would want to thank everyone who made the task of this ad hoc committee less difficult. I stand here, on their behalf and representing them, asking Parliament to adopt the report and accede to the recommendations therein. I thank you. [Applause.]
Modulasetilo, a re amogele pegelo e. Ke a leboga. [Chairperson, let us adopt this report. Thank you.]
Motion agreed to.
There was no debate.
Report accordingly adopted.