News / National
Lawyers threatens legal fight for Wenela pensions
23 Mar 2014 at 03:11hrs | Views
A South African law firm, Xulu Attorneys Incorporation, is threatening to take legal action against its government, financial institutions and mining companies for their failure to facilitate the release of pension funds to thousands of migrant ex-miners, including Zimbabweans, that used to work in the neighbouring country.
Addressing about 40 former South African mining expatriates from Zimbabwe recently, Xulu Attorneys director Mr Barnabas Xulu said his firm was in the process of compiling a comprehensive database of ex-migrant miners that worked in South Africa since the 1940s in a bid to ensure that they receive their pension benefits that have continued to accrue over the years without being released.
Zimbabwe is home to thousands of people that left the country under the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, known by its initials WNLA or popularly as "Wenela" which was set up by the gold mines in South Africa as a recruiting agency for migrant workers.
Mr Xulu said his law firm was representing former migrant miners as part of its human rights work further stating that over 30 000 ex-miners from Lesotho and Mozambique as well as from South Africa had been documented as having difficulties in obtaining their pension.
"Government (of South Africa) has now opened up for me to speak before I institute legal action. It has opened up by saying tell us how can you help because we have a problem we need solutions. This is also our problem.
"If there is resistance, a continuous resistance we will then be forced to go to court and compel all these financial institutions that are withholding people's money, the Government itself and the mining companies…," Mr Xulu said.
He said Financial Services Board (FSB) South Africa had over the years called for financial institutions and mining company to release the funds but to no avail. The institutions claimed that the claimants were providing wrong information while others could not be accessed.
FSB is the government of South Africa financial regulatory agency responsible for the non-banking financial services industry in South Africa.
It is an independent body that supervises and regulates the financial services industry in the public interest. This includes the regulation of the biggest stock exchange in Africa, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
"Legally, they are entitled to these benefits under any international law because those were their contributions. Two of the economies of these (affected) countries are suffocating because they have to take care of sick people who are coming from South Africa yet in South Africa this problem is not there.
"It's a serious violation of human rights whereby people live in abject poverty when they have their dues withheld by those who have access or control the means of having produced gold and platinum or whatever mineral but at the back of it the people who have helped to amass this wealth are living in poverty and there is no attempt to assist them," Mr Xulu said.
He said his firm would spearhead the formation of a trained committee in Bulawayo that would be charged with coming up with a comprehensive database of all former Wenela miners including the deceased and take the information to South Africa for the processing of their pension benefits.
Mr Xulu said dependants of the deceased would benefit upon producing documents and correct information that a member of their family worked at any of the South African mines.
Mr Xulu is also a member of the Lawyers Pensions Association.
Former Wenela miners who attended the meeting brought their identification particulars and payslips they got during their working days at various mines.
"We are now seeing a bit of light at the end of the tunnel because we lost quite some substantial amounts of money through the subscriptions we were paying to be part of the local Wenela Miners Association.
"Our plea is that we get our dues as soon as possible because we are entitled to the monies anyway. We are also appealing to the South African government to consider employing our children even under contract as we used to instead of them working there as illegal immigrants," said 60-year-old Vincent Ncube of Mbalabala who worked in Venterspost Gold Mining Company from 1976 to 1979.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche said he was going to seek an audience with officials from the Pensions Board and the South African embassy to ascertain the state of affairs pertaining to the status of the former migrant mine workers.
"I am still to find out which class of former migrant mine workers are affected because we have those that went to work in South Africa on their own and the ones that went there under Wenela. We are going to have a meeting on Monday (tomorrow) as we seek to find out what really is the problem pertaining to the non-payment of the pensions since it's part of their (former migrant miners) benefits and they are entitled to them," Minister Goche said.
Addressing about 40 former South African mining expatriates from Zimbabwe recently, Xulu Attorneys director Mr Barnabas Xulu said his firm was in the process of compiling a comprehensive database of ex-migrant miners that worked in South Africa since the 1940s in a bid to ensure that they receive their pension benefits that have continued to accrue over the years without being released.
Zimbabwe is home to thousands of people that left the country under the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, known by its initials WNLA or popularly as "Wenela" which was set up by the gold mines in South Africa as a recruiting agency for migrant workers.
Mr Xulu said his law firm was representing former migrant miners as part of its human rights work further stating that over 30 000 ex-miners from Lesotho and Mozambique as well as from South Africa had been documented as having difficulties in obtaining their pension.
"Government (of South Africa) has now opened up for me to speak before I institute legal action. It has opened up by saying tell us how can you help because we have a problem we need solutions. This is also our problem.
"If there is resistance, a continuous resistance we will then be forced to go to court and compel all these financial institutions that are withholding people's money, the Government itself and the mining companies…," Mr Xulu said.
He said Financial Services Board (FSB) South Africa had over the years called for financial institutions and mining company to release the funds but to no avail. The institutions claimed that the claimants were providing wrong information while others could not be accessed.
FSB is the government of South Africa financial regulatory agency responsible for the non-banking financial services industry in South Africa.
It is an independent body that supervises and regulates the financial services industry in the public interest. This includes the regulation of the biggest stock exchange in Africa, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
"It's a serious violation of human rights whereby people live in abject poverty when they have their dues withheld by those who have access or control the means of having produced gold and platinum or whatever mineral but at the back of it the people who have helped to amass this wealth are living in poverty and there is no attempt to assist them," Mr Xulu said.
He said his firm would spearhead the formation of a trained committee in Bulawayo that would be charged with coming up with a comprehensive database of all former Wenela miners including the deceased and take the information to South Africa for the processing of their pension benefits.
Mr Xulu said dependants of the deceased would benefit upon producing documents and correct information that a member of their family worked at any of the South African mines.
Mr Xulu is also a member of the Lawyers Pensions Association.
Former Wenela miners who attended the meeting brought their identification particulars and payslips they got during their working days at various mines.
"We are now seeing a bit of light at the end of the tunnel because we lost quite some substantial amounts of money through the subscriptions we were paying to be part of the local Wenela Miners Association.
"Our plea is that we get our dues as soon as possible because we are entitled to the monies anyway. We are also appealing to the South African government to consider employing our children even under contract as we used to instead of them working there as illegal immigrants," said 60-year-old Vincent Ncube of Mbalabala who worked in Venterspost Gold Mining Company from 1976 to 1979.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche said he was going to seek an audience with officials from the Pensions Board and the South African embassy to ascertain the state of affairs pertaining to the status of the former migrant mine workers.
"I am still to find out which class of former migrant mine workers are affected because we have those that went to work in South Africa on their own and the ones that went there under Wenela. We are going to have a meeting on Monday (tomorrow) as we seek to find out what really is the problem pertaining to the non-payment of the pensions since it's part of their (former migrant miners) benefits and they are entitled to them," Minister Goche said.
Source - Sunday News
