Mineworker Benefits

TEBA's rural infrastructure, developed over many years, has its primary strengths in the organization, administration and control of financial affairs of workers. It has also been used by a number of companies for beneficiary tracings and financial transactions.

TEBA Limited currently has 93 (68 off-site and 25 on-site) offices, which render financial (and related) services. Rural offices are located in the North West, Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Provinces in South Africa, as well as in Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland. Urban offices are situated on all the major mines.

The nature and extent of the services rendered by TEBA Limited require a reliable communication network to both rural and urban offices. All the TEBA offices are linked to the uBank banking system (NIMBUS) and also to the TEBA Limited personnel database.

Financial Transactions

On average, the rural offices of TEBA Limited process 65 000 transactions of TEBA Ltd account holders per month. Payments/transactions are in respect of the following products:

1. Industry Generated Funds
2. Matco Trust Payments
3. Rand Mutual Assurance Pensions
4. Mineworker and Alternative Account Transactions
5. De Beers
6. Grow With Us Transactions
7. Paymaster Transactions

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Financial Services

TEBA provides money transfer facilities from South Africa to neighbouring countries. TEBA offices are linked electronically directly to uBank, and therefore TEBA allows its clients to transact from TEBA offices on an agency basis.

Traditional customers are predominantly mineworkers, their wives (transmission accounts) and the widows of deceased mineworkers receiving pension benefits. Disability and fatal accident social pensions, Long Service Awards and a various other types of payments are disbursed annually. The value of these payments amounts to ZAR1.3 billion per annum, disbursed in over one million withdrawal transactions annually.

This includes Compulsory Deferred Pay (CDP) transferred from mineworker earnings into Lesotho and Mozambique. The CDP is a requirement of inter-governmental agreements and amounts to approximately ZAR700 million annually, transferred in 300 000 transactions per annum.

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Social Support Services

Social Support Services encompass a host of post-employment services, as well as services to family members of current workers. A feature of these services is that they are rendered in very rural areas where technology and infrastructure are normally scarce. The emphasis of these services is on hardship alleviation.

During a death report (where TEBA Ltd reports the death of a mineworker to the next of kin) the family members are counselled and receive an immediate funeral cost advance payment.

Claim documentation for various benefits is collected and submitted to a number of organizations. These organizations include the Rand Mutual Assurance Company Limited, the Mineworkers Provident Fund, Provident Funds pertaining to specific groups, such as the Impala provident fund (in support of, in many cases, illiterate claimants).

Over 11 000 Certificates of Life are delivered to beneficiaries per annum, completed with TEBA staff assistance and submitted to the relevant companies to ensure that pension and other benefits are received without interruption.

TEBA makes use of its network of field operators, which is knowledgeable of local environments and tracing methods, to effect ad hoc tracings and report the whereabouts of sought after persons in rural locations.

TEBA Ltd also visits disabled (e.g. spinal injuries) ex-mineworkers at their homes, to ensure their well-being and to report on cases where corrective action is required.

Injured ex-mineworkers that have been rehabilitated and mineworkers with terminal illnesses are repatriated under supervision to their homes by TEBA ambulance. Medical and equipment supplies are also delivered when required. Those requiring medical treatment are transported to hospitals or clinics after TEBA has made application on their behalf. This is known as TEBA's Home-Based Care (HBC) service and has received accreditation from Pretoria University.

Financial and basic social counselling are provided to recipients of cash payments. HIV/AIDS avoidance instruction is also given.

Assistance is given to manage projects, like dwelling improvements, water-well and latrine construction, which are undertaken by rural staff on behalf of sponsoring employers. Service providers are ex-mineworkers, wherever possible. An expert in this field heads up TEBA Development, a separate TEBA company tasked with rural development and upliftment on behalf of TEBA shareholders. A core of retrenched mineworkers has been trained in participatory rural appraisal techniques and the findings have been collated and analyzed. The findings have been instrumental in identifying appropriate projects.

TEBA Limited has introduced a unique funeral benefit scheme known as the "Mzilikazi Scheme", which was specially developed for the employees of contractors who do not provide funeral cover for their workers. The primary characteristic of this scheme is affordability for low-income wage earners, widows of mineworkers and pensioners. The premiums include a compulsory savings portion which is refundable should the member be unable to continue with premiums.

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Transportation of Terminally Ill Mineworkers

TEBA is ideally positioned to meet the current trend of repatriating incapacitated mineworkers to their homes.

TEBA has a fleet of appropriate vehicles and trained drivers, familiar with the terrain and conditions that mineworkers need to be returned to, (equipped ambulances for serious cases and vehicles for not so serious cases) which will transport these patients to their home in a responsible and caring manner.

This service is also used for the transportation of spinal cord injured patients to their homes after rehabilitation as well as from home to medical facilities where required for treatment. The vehicles are also used to deliver prostheses, wheel chairs and other medical equipment to the patients' homes or from their homes to Johannesburg, for repairs/replacements.

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