Just Administration!
For 120 years Mining companies and the South African state have failed to make mines safe from harmful conditions that cause these diseases.
Although Laws to protect miners against dust have been in place since 1903, mining companies have not been held accountable for breaking these laws.
They have also failed to provide adequate medical care for miners they have made sick.
Current laws governing compensation
make it very difficult for ex-miners living in rural areas
and
outside the borders of South Africa to access compensation.
South African state institutions tasked with certifying and
compensating sick miners are
dysfunctional
and
have huge backlogs of unprocessed claims.
Sick miners have been sent home to die in their rural communities.
The gold mining industry has shifted the burden of care
to their wives and families.
