A critical review of compensation challenges for occupational diseases among Zimbabwean ex-miners to the Witwatersrand, 2018-2021

This study investigates historical and contemporary challenges faced by Zimbabwean ex-miners in securing compensation on occupational diseases contracted in South African gold mines. Zimbabwean labour migrancy to South Africa was brokered by the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA) and was placed on various mines in Transvaal and the Orange Free State. South African gold mines frequently repatriated sick miners in a way that was considered to be the industry’s medication system. Repatriation of sick miners was a capitalist method of avoiding compensating miners who had contracted diseases like Tuberculosis and silicosis. Contemporary obstacles to compensation are hinged on legal challenges, administrative hurdles and the effects of COVID-19. This paper fills an academic void on the lives of former migrant miners and the compensation challenges they face. The study gleaned information from WNLA documents archived at the University of Johannesburg, Zimbabwean newspapers, oral testimonies of ex-miners, secondary literature on South African labour history and the Tshiamiso Trust website.