Families of the miners reject R 200 000
The families of the three miners who are still trapped underground at Lily Mine are unhappy about the R200 000 compensation.
LOW’S CREEK – The families of the three miners who are still trapped underground at Lily Mine are unhappy about the R200 000 compensation.
Relatives who spoke to Mpumalanga News on Tuesday at the mine, voiced their discomfort about this move, arguing that the return of their loved ones was the priority, not the money.
They said they were not interested in the compensation offered by the Department of Mineral Resources as they thought it was too early for that. They also felt like it was some kind of bribery.
One of the missing miners’ family members, Ms Phindile Nkambule, said the act of offering them the said compensation was not giving them any hope on finding her sister, Ms Pretty Nkambule.
“What’s all the rush for compensation while the work of searching for our loved ones is still in progress?” She further alleged that the mine’s management was failing to address them properly on what was going on.
She said R200 000 was not enough to pay for her sister’s four children from now until tertiary level.
Phindile and other relatives were very concerned about the reaction time of the mine.
Family members of Mr Solomon Nyarende are not happy about the money either.
His aunt, Ms Patricia Nyarende, said the mine was supposed to sit down with families to discuss compensation before making the announcement to the public.
She said it looked like the management did not care much about the safety of its employees, but only the production.
Phindile believed that they were still alive regardless of the time they have spent inside the mine and hoped that the rescue team or inspectors from overseas would come up with a better solution.
She revealed that her other nephew who used to work at the same mine years ago, told her that it was unsafe for miners to continue working in the same area.
“The area is no longer safe and the management knows about it,” she said.
The paper also learnt from miners, who spoke on condition of anonymity, that two people were seriously injured a month ago while working and the mine had allegedly closed for a week.
