The Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases and the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases work as a pair inside the National Department of Health. The MBOD certifies the disease, and the CCOD pays the compensation. Both sit under the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act, No. 78 of 1973, and both are reached on the same call centre number.
Task scope
This route is for occupational lung disease in current and former mine and works employees. It is not the general workplace injury system. Claims for injury on duty or occupational disease outside mining go to the Compensation Fund under COIDA, which is a different department, a different Act and a different claim number. Sending an ODMWA claim to the Compensation Fund, or the reverse, is the most common way these claims stall.
Route
- Call centre: 0801 000 240
- Alternative number: 011 356 5600
- Ex-Mine Worker Self-Registration Platform: exmineworker.com
- Address: 144 De Korte Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
Type the portal address carefully. The Department of Health page displays the platform address with an extra letter r, as exminerworker.com, but the link on that same page points to exmineworker.com, and only exmineworker.com resolves. The working site opens as MBOD Registration and shows the same 0801 000 240 enquiries number, which is how you can tell you are on the right one. The misspelt address does not currently resolve at all.
The CCOD pages also carry the National Department of Health site-wide helplines, and none of them handles mine worker compensation. The AIDS Helpline on 0800 012 322, the Mental Health Information Line on 0800 567 567, the Children’s Cancer Helpline on 0800 333 555, the departmental WhatsApp on 0600 123 456 and the [email protected] mailbox are all general departmental channels that happen to appear on the same page.
Requirements
The self-registration platform asks for the following, and having them ready is what makes the registration go through in one sitting:
- Full first names and surname
- Date of birth
- South African identity number, or a foreign national identification or passport number
- Industry number
- The name of the last mine you worked at
- Estimated last date of service
- A contact number, with a country code selector
The country list is not decoration. It includes Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini, Botswana and Zimbabwe, because a large share of eligible claimants are former migrant mine workers who have since returned home. A claimant outside South Africa registers on the same platform with a passport number instead of an identity number.
Steps
- Register the mine worker on exmineworker.com, or call 0801 000 240 if you cannot use the platform. Registration captures personal and employment details for follow-up.
- Book a Benefit Medical Examination. These may be taken every two years and are free of charge at selected service providers. Call 0801 000 240 to find your closest one, because the provider list is not published on the site.
- Submit the correct claim form. There are two, and they are not interchangeable: GW24/80A is the application form where the claimant is still alive, and GW24/80B is the form where the claimant is deceased. Both are downloadable from the CCOD application page.
- The MBOD certifies the disease, then the CCOD processes the benefit payment.
Escalation
- Chase an existing claim on 0801 000 240, and use 011 356 5600 if the call centre line does not answer.
- Report fraud or corruption in the claims process on the toll-free Anti-Corruption Contact Centre, 0800 701 701.
- The CCOD states that it relies on voted funds for administration of the fund and for payment of Benefit Medical Examinations and certifications, so payment timing is tied to the departmental budget cycle rather than to a service-level guarantee.
- The department publishes CCOD certification statistics and payment statistics, along with annual reports, which are the public record of how many claims are being certified and paid.
Sources
- health.gov.za/ccod-home/ (call centre and alternative numbers, anti-corruption line, Braamfontein address, ODMWA Act reference, Benefit Medical Examination frequency and cost, self-registration platform)
- health.gov.za/ccod-application/ (the GW24/80A and GW24/80B claim forms)
- exmineworker.com (MBOD Registration portal, enquiries number, and the registration fields required)