South Africa: UIF concludes relief tour for former miners in Mthatha with over 40 million rand paid out

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), an agency of South Africa's Department of Employment and Labour, has paid out over 40 million rand (around 2.1 million dollars) to former miners and their families since the launch of its relief program in Eastern Cape, including 1.4 million rand on the very first day, July 13, 2026. According to SAnews.gov.za, the South African government news agency, the outreach program wrapped up on Friday at the Mthatha stadium, following months of engagement with former mine workers regarding pending compensation claims and occupational diseases. Minister Nomakhosazana Meth and Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane participated in a panel discussion at the Mthatha health resource center at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital. "This is a very important program that our people desperately need. You can see the number of people turning up at every stop," Meth stated, praising the involvement of the Compensation Fund and its agent Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA). On-site payments were facilitated by First National Bank, which opens accounts for unbanked beneficiaries, and by African Bank, the successor to New Bank and Teba Bank, for the benefit of miners' widows and workers suffering from silicosis or tuberculosis. This initiative illustrates South Africa's ongoing difficulty in compensating victims of the mining industry, a decade after the historic 2016 silicosis settlement, and the effort to decentralize public services to rural areas, the historical basin of migrant miners.