Calls for government to compensate ex-miners in SADeC region affected by TB, silicosis

Local, News

March 24, 2022

LOCAL

Deputy Minister of Health Doctor Sibongiseni Dhlomo has called on government to accelerate the programme of identifying and compensating ex-miners in South Africa and SADeC region who were affected by illnesses such as Tuberculosis and Silicosis while working at the mines.

Dhlomo attended the SABC Northern Cape region’s 85th anniversary celebrations in Kimberley.

“All countries in the SADeC have contributed with lives of their citizens and therefore, we are in the programme to go out in our country into those SADeC countries to compensate those people who contracted TB and were not compensated. Some of them are late. The compensation is going to go to their families, but at least something has to be done. That programme must be accelerated because, as we speak, the person who is supposed to be compensated is dead. We need to give them support.”

SA to commemorate World TB Day on Thursday

South Africa is still among the nations hardest hit by tuberculosis.

The infectious disease has remained the leading cause of death in the country for several years.

Deputy president David Mabuza is on a two-day visit in the northern cape ahead of world tb day on Thursday.

For the past two years, it has been all hands on deck to combat the spread of covid-19.

Tb and HIV/AIDS, however remain a huge concern.

Mabuza said the time has come for the country to ramp up measures to end the spread of tb.

“as much as we are relaxing the regulations so that we can facilitate the movement of our people and revitalize our economy, we must continue to sanitize and wear our mask because the pandemic is not over. Through the South African National Aids Council (SANAC), we have decided that the same effort that we put in fighting covid-19 we must put now in fighting tb and HIV/AIDS.”

Labour federations highlight that tb remains a concern in the mining industry with thousands of miners having lost their lives.

With covid-19 regulations relaxed, calls are mounting for tb to be given the same attention.

Cosatu’s President Zingiswa Losi says, “the similarities of HIV and TB, they both affect the lungs, they are both pandemics, and are deadly. In the past two years, we have put our heads together and achieved a lot. Covid-19 really knocked us back for a six. However, we stuck it out and regulations are now being eased. As an organised labour, we are saying we should do the same with TB.”

Meanwhile, speaking at the anniversary celebrations the SABC Chief Operation Officer, Ian Plaatjies says despite SABC‘s administrative and financial challenges as well as stiff competition from emerging broadcasters in recent years, it has remained the main source of information, education and entertainment to millions.

“We are coming from a difficult past, but we can’t use it as an excuse. So, we want to succeed despite of our circumstances not because of it. We are reinventing ourselves. We are recreating ourselves for the SABC of the future. As you know, it’s going to be in digital space.”

Source: SABC