Ex-Miners Cry for Dues, MP Vows to Assist
"Enough Is Enough," Miner Says
LILONGWE, Malawi - Machinga North East Member of Parliament (MP) Anjiru Kalitendele has promised to assist former mining workers in getting their dues from the government, writes Judgement Katika.
Speaking after receiving a petition from the ex-miners at the parliament building in Lilongwe, Kalitendele said the petition has reached the right hands since parliament is in session.
He promised he will take the petition to the speaker's office, and it will go to the relevant officers who will deal with it.
Kalitendele said people were using it as a campaign tool, saying if people vote for them, they will pay the old mining workers their dues.
"It works like these people are tired because it is a story which they have been telling in almost every campaign time," he said.
He expressed optimism that once he delivers the petition to the speaker, she will bring it to the house to be deliberated because it is a national issue.
In his remarks, one of the ex-miners, Messiah Mbukwa from Karonga district, said he is very sad about the old people who worked in South Africa but are not paid their benefits.
He said the previous government promised to pay them but did nothing.
Then Chakwera got into power and promised to pay them, but until now, they have not been paid.
"We have gone to the minister of labour, they have crooked, nothing which has been showing, they are just cheating the old people," Mbukwa said.
About 35,000 ex-miners who worked in South African mines between the early 1970s to late 1980s are demanding the government pay their dues.