Mozambique: Over 1,200 Former Mining Workers Identified to Receive About 148 Million Rand

For decades, tens of thousands of Mozambicans migrated to South African mines (gold, coal, platinum) through historic cross-border recruitment systems such as TEBA, often leaving behind pension contributions that proved difficult to recover once back home. This issue of unpaid mining pensions affects several labour-supplying countries in the region -- Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique -- and periodically resurfaces as South African funds identify their beneficiaries. According to the Mozambican news agency AIM (Maputo), relayed by AllAfrica on 28 July 2026, more than 1,200 Mozambicans have been identified to receive pensions based on contributions made while working for South African mining companies, for a total amount of around 148 million rand. The dispatch, very brief, specifies neither the paying institution, nor the payment schedule, nor the average amount per beneficiary. For the families concerned, often from rural areas that long supplied labour to South African mines, these sums represent potentially significant income after years of administrative uncertainty. For Maputo, resolving these cross-border social rights remains an issue of social protection and bilateral relations with Pretoria. This announcement fits into a broader regional dynamic of campaigns to identify dormant mining pensions in Southern Africa. The limited level of detail -- no named institution, no calculation method, no payment date -- calls for caution regarding the concrete implementation of thi