Last Wednesday, the politician, entrepreneur and founder of the People’s Dialogue platform, Herman Mashaba, guaranteed monetary and legal aid to the forsaken miners’ families.
“I was there yesterday on invitation of the community. There is an evil plaguing these people and I cannot sit in the background and do nothing. My role in this matter will be to act as the facilitator; to liaise with the lawyers in Johannesburg and to provide funding,” Mashaba said.
“I will get the top lawyers in the country. I want to make sure that the bodies of the missing miners are retrieved and all outstanding monies owed to the deceased must be paid to their families,” he added.
Read: Early Xmas relief for Lily Mine families
Tragedy struck Lily Mine on February 5, 2016, when the entrance to the mine’s shaft collapsed, burying three workers; Yvonne Mnisi, Pretty Nkambule and Solomon Nyirenda. They were working in a container, serving as a lamp room, which were swallowed up during the cave-in.
The Department of Mineral Resources subsequently instructed Vantage Goldfields (VGO) to close the mine, at least until the workers’ bodies were recovered. VGO operates the Lily and Barbrook Mines, situated near Baberton in Mpumalanga.
Numerous rescue missions were undertaken and abandoned after conditions were deemed too risky and consequently the bodies were never recovered from their subterranean grave. This eventually led to the mines being placed under business rescue. Mining operations ceased and Makonjwaan Imperial Mining Company, a subsidiary of VGO, was unable to pay its debts.
ALSO READ: Timeline: Lily Mine disaster
Mike McChesney, the CEO of VGO told Lowvelder that he got word of Mashaba’s visit from the security company at the mine. “I would like to speak to Mashaba as his perception of the situation might be blocked by certain misrepresentations made, because I don’t know who he is going to be fighting. It is very good and kind of him to try and help the families, it means we have the same objective and we are on the same page. I am sure this is just a smear campaign against Vantage Goldfields SA (VGSA), initiated by our opposition.”
