Africa-Press – Botswana. With the institution that should be of help, the Employment Bureau of Africa and its sister TEBA Foreign Office, is giving Batswana who worked on South African mines for years the runaround, the government and the Botswana Labour Migrants Workers Organisation are emerging as the only hope for the largely illiterate ex-migrant mineworkers to salvage their pensions.
A storm is brewing over pension payments due to former Botswana mineworkers who toiled for years in South African mines.
The Botswana Labour Migrants Workers Organisation (BOLAMA), a local advocacy group for former migrant workers, says it is inundated with complaints from former miners who claim to have been duped out of their provident fund pensions.
At the centre of the allegations is the Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA), the agency tasked with processing benefits for former migrant mineworkers.
Mysteriously closed
Investigations have revealed that some ex-mineworkers’ bank accounts, which were opened specifically to facilitate pension payments, were mysteriously closed despite money still held in them.
According to the Secretary General of BOLAMA, Tshepo Sebetlela, the organisation is dealing with a growing number of complaints involving TEBA’s handling of documentation, bank accounts, and pension payouts.
Speaking in an interview, he said many miners were forced to travel to South Africa to open accounts with TEBA-linked institutions like the now-defunct TEBA Bank and UBank, which was later acquired by African Bank.
Disarray
“The whole process appears to be in disarray,” said Sebetlela. “Former miners have come to us saying they never received their pensions even though they signed documents and opened bank accounts with TEBA’s assistance. Some were even robbed after being handed some cash over the counter.”
One such miner, Bachu Molefi of Molepolole, is among dozens who have approached BOLAMA. Molefi says despite submitting documents and signing for the payment process at the TEBA office in Molepolole, he was later told that no such records exist.
“They made me sign documents and told me to come back the next day,” he said. “But when I returned, they said I had never signed anything. I then travelled to South Africa to the Mine Workers Provident Fund where I was shocked to learn that my pension had already been paid out.”
“I never got my remaining money”
He suspects foul play and has since enlisted BOLAMA’s help to investigate the matter.
Another former miner, Moleti Mononyane of Moshupa, says he received R56,000 in 2003 but left a balance of R7,000 in his account. When he attempted to withdraw the remaining funds the following year, he was told the account had been closed without explanation.
“I’ve been asking TEBA’s Molepolole office for help but they have done nothing,” he lamented. “I never got my remaining money.”
Sebetlela says BOLAMA is growing increasingly concerned that systemic corruption or negligence may be at play.
Over-the-counter payment
“The requirement to use specific banks and withdraw funds over the counter has exposed our people to fraud and theft,” he told. “We have pushed for payments to be made through local Botswana banks but TEBA hasn’t budged – until recently.”
Upon being contacted, the Executive Manager of TEBA Foreign Office, Jose Carimo, declined to comment on specific cases.
“Each individual circumstance is different and needs proper investigation,” he said tersely. However, he said TEBA is now shifting away from the controversial over-the-counter payment method.
“We are in advanced stages of enabling direct payments into individual bank accounts in Botswana,” he said. “This change required approval from the South African Reserve Bank, and we’re close to finalising that.”
Criminal activity
Carimo emphasised that while TEBA had previous banking arrangements with now-defunct institutions, the company did not own the banks. He admitted that past processes may have inadvertently exposed the ex-miners to criminal activity.
Although some of the ex-miners, most of who are illiterate, have accused the government of not doing enough to support them, the Minister of Home Affairs, Pius Mokgware, things may change.
“The government will dispatch teams across the country to identify and assist ex-mineworkers who have not received their pension payments,” he said in an interview.
Source: Botswana Gazette
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