Dozens of unpaid asbestosis claims leave sick workers unsupported for years

When he retired in 2007, he was informed by the City of Cape Town that he should check on the status of his claim regularly.

Six years later, he is still waiting to be compensated.

Asbestos is now banned in South Africa. Asbestos-related diseases are contracted through inhaling asbestos fibres. Symptoms only manifest after 10 years of exposure.

About 40 former workers at the APS are waiting for compensation from the City for asbestosis-related diseases. Some of these unpaid claims were made back in 2006. Some claimants have been paid out.

The City refused to verify these claims.

Many workers at the APS were exposed to asbestos and developed asbestosis, plural plaques (plaque formation on the plural lining of the lungs), lung cancer and mesotheliomarare (a rare condition, but fatal within a year of its development, and there is no cure available).

The APS stopped electricity generation in 2002. Asbestos was used mainly in the form of lagging as insulation to preserve heat in its piping and walls. The City began a screening process around 1990 for asbestos-related diseases.

The City makes use of the adjudication process of the Department of Labour’s Worker’s Compensation Fund (WCF), but it self-insures and makes its own compensation pay outs.

According to Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Ian Neilson, the City is currently waiting for a decision from the WCF regarding unadjudicated claims, and the City is regularly following up with the WCF.

The WCF has not responded (apart from acknowledgement of receipt of questions) to repeated attempts by GroundUp to contact them.

According to Dr Sophia Kisting, an occupational medicines specialist, the WCF is over extended and has insufficient resources to operate effectively.

Kisting says, despite this, the City should be able to secure other sources of funding to help compensate sick workers. Many of the people who are currently awaiting compensation are old, poor and in worsening health.

“The intensity of isolation from their sickness [asbestosis-related diseases] is terrible,” says Kisting.

Mahommed worked as a boiler cleaner at the APS from 1967 and retired in 2007. He says that he would often come across broken sections of the walls of the boilers and pipes with exposed asbestos, which the boiler cleaners would have to clean.

“In those days”, says Mahommed, “boiler cleaners used pieces of mutton cloth wrapped around their faces and goggles as protection against the dust.”

He suffers bouts of coughing, a tight chest, low energy levels and difficulties with movement.

Other symptoms of asbestosis can include severe shortness of breath and cancer.

Mahommed is currently on a monthly pension of R5 000. He has to pay for his medical costs himself, which amount to R4,000 to R5,000 every three to four months. He also has to take care of two of his grandchildren who live with him and still attend school. His wife passed away in 2011.

He says the City initially covered his medical bills. He is no longer able to claim from his medical scheme. The City denies making any payments for medical expenses for asbestosis.