Speaking during a press briefing in Lilongwe, the Minister said government is currently engaging all the relevant authorities to make these validations so that the miners can be paid in due course.

He however quashed allegations that government received money meant for the ex-miners benefits from South African Provident Funds and diverted the funds

“We know that the issue of paying these ex miners seem to be taking long but we are only following proper channels so that the money goes to the intended beneficiaries. And let me clarify that the benefit will only go to those who made contributions to the Provident Funds,” said Kasaila.

Kasaila added that the special scheme that was set aside will follow proper procedures where one has to fill in the preliminary forms with the right name, pension number and years served in the mines.

So far, government is looking at a payout of 5,176 accurate matches of examiners who filled their forms and are eligible for receiving their pensions.

“Let me just clarify that more than 50,000 claim forms were filled but a lot of them did not match the records that exist to support the claims. Therefore only those that matched are the ones waiting for their payment but so far, government has not received any of these funds and no ex-miner has received their benefits from Pension Administrators in South Africa,” said the Minister.