Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican Minister of Labour, Margarida Talapa, on Wednesday in Maputo stressed the need to adopt swift compensation mechanisms for occupational lung disease among former and active duty miners in the South African mines.
Addressing the opening session of a Mozambique and South Africa Multi-sector workshop on Compensation for Occupational Diseases among Mozambican miners, Talapa said that, under the common ground reached between authorities in both countries, the Compensation Commission for Occupational Diseases of South Africa paid 1,593 beneficiaries, in 2019, for diseases and social welfare.
“The move resulted in the payment of over 800 million meticais (about 12.5 million US dollars) and at the same period 1,034 complaints were delivered to the Compensation Commission for Occupational Diseases and are presently awaiting an answer,” Talapa stressed.
Across the Southern African region, Mozambique is home to about 10 per cent of former miners who worked in South Africa, amounting to nearly 100,000 people. There are currently 21,850 Mozambicans working in the South African mines.
“One of the great priorities of the Mozambican government is ensuring improved health to both former and working miners as well as answering their legitimate concerns,” Talapa pointed out, adding that the Labour Ministry, in partnership with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), started in 2018, a screening drive for occupational diseases, through the Health Centre in Ressano Garcia, on the border with South Africa, and in Xai-Xai, capital of Gaza province.
A press release issued on Tuesday by the Ministry indicates that between 1,500 and 20,000 working miners in the South Africa mines have since 2020 been screened by the Health Centre for Occupational Diseases operated by IOM, at the Ressano Garcia border.
The release also states that at least 1,500 Mozambican miners working in South Africa have been diagnosed with silicosis, an occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust.
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