Lily Mine tragedy commemoration disrupted by burning debris

ActionSA’s annual commemoration event to mark the Lilly Mine tragedy began in a fiery fashion.

The delegation’s access to the road leading to the mine was delayed by burning wooden poles and tree branches.

With police assistance, the road has since been reopened, causing a minor delay in proceedings.

Justice sought for three miners

The annual 5 February commemoration acknowledges the lives of three miners lost after a chamber collapse at the mine.

At least 76 employees were rescued through a ventilation shaft, but Solomon Nyirenda, Yvonne Mnisi and Pretty Nkambule were trapped in the lamp room, and their remains have yet to be retrieved.

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Since its founding, the Lily Mine tragedy has been one of ActionSA’s most prominent social causes.

Solly Moeng, spokesperson for ActionSA’s leader Herman Mashaba, told The Citizen they suspect the owner of the mine and an affiliated union were behind the makeshift blockade but admitted they had no evidence of their suspicion.

“I want to assure people of this country that whether they like it or not, the Lilly Mine tragedy is not going to be forgotten,” said Mashaba on Wednesday.  

“What they are doing is inspiring us to do even more to ensure that ultimately that container is retrieved,” Mashaba added.

Resolve strengthened

Parliamentarian Lerato Ngobeni stated that every year began with a prayer session and that she was shocked that anyone would want to disturb that, but believed they were getting close to a resolution.  

“There is a breakthrough that is coming on this issue, and that is why this is happening. We’re not phased at all,” Ngobeni said.

The party stated that the disruption would only strengthen their resolve in forcing the government’s hand.

“Successive ANC-led governments have spent hundreds of millions of rands retrieving the bodies of anti-apartheid fighters who died in other parts of the world,” Mashaba’s spokesperson told The Citizen.

“The government of national unity went to great lengths getting illegal miners — dead and alive — and most of whom were undocumented foreign nationals, from underground in Stilfontein.

“Why is it so hard to invest in the retrieval of the Lily Mine three?” asked Mashaba.

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