Teba is the organisation former mineworkers and their families most often approach about unclaimed benefits, but it publishes no claims department number. Enquiries go through its call centre and its regional office network.
Task scope
Teba runs tracing services, which locate former mineworkers and their dependants, alongside financial services and community development work. Tracing is the step that usually has to happen before a benefit can be paid, which is why claims enquiries land here rather than with a fund directly.
Route
- Call centre: 011 353 6170
- Head office: 011 353 6000
- WhatsApp: 011 010 8577
- Email: [email protected]
The call centre is the number to start with. Teba also publishes a list of tracing agents and an office locator, and a regional office is often the practical route for someone in a labour sending area rather than a call to Johannesburg.
Requirements
Bring the mineworker identity number, the name of the mine and the approximate years worked. Tracing depends on matching employment records, so a service number or an old payslip helps more than a recent address. A dependant claiming on behalf of someone who has died will also need the death certificate and proof of relationship.
Steps
Contact the call centre or the nearest Teba office to open a tracing enquiry. Teba then checks its employment records and refers the matter to the relevant fund or employer. The fund, not Teba, decides and pays the benefit.
Escalation
Teba is a service provider rather than a regulator, so a dispute about a benefit itself belongs with the fund that holds it. Complaints about a retirement or provident fund go to the Pension Funds Adjudicator, and complaints about the handling of an occupational disease claim to the Department of Health compensation commissioner. Misconduct by Teba staff can be reported on its free tip-off line, 0800 872 214.
Sources
- teba.co.za, read 2 September 2026.
- teba.co.za/contact/, read 2 September 2026.