Miners risk their lives to reach bodies in Lily mine, slam govt for inaction

Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathunjwa says if the miners who took it upon themselves to try and retrieve the bodies of the three miners trapped underground for three years in the Lily gold mine in Mpumalanga were to die, it would be on the government’s conscience.

After a three-year deadlock, former colleagues went underground yesterday in the hope of bring closure to their families.

Mathunjwa said the government had the financial and technical means to retrieve Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyarenda and Yvonne Mnisi but had decided to fold arms as the more than 30 miners risked their lives.

“The mine is not safe…” he said. “Government has the fullest power, they can stop the operation … by taking the responsibility to do it themselves.

“The miners have sought to risk their own lives because the government has failed to plunge money in the retrieval operations of the three miners. It is the worst disaster,” said Mathunjwa.

He said they had conducted a health and safety inquiry which found the mine was not safe.

The government was responsible for ensuring the mining company complied with health and safety measures but had failed.

He questioned the role of National Prosecuting Authority for not arresting the Lily gold mine directors for their failure to retrieve the miners.

The department of mineral resources and energy said it was concerned by reports that miners had kick-started the retrieval operations themselves. The operations posed a serious danger to the miners due to poor standard of the structures used in the operation.

Department spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said: “The department, working together with the families of the deceased, community leaders and members, and all relevant law enforcement agencies, will be attending to this matter urgently.

“Regarding the business rescue [of Lily], the department is facilitating talks with parties interested in acquiring the mine … with the primary objective of having an amicable resolution to the impasse that is causing unnecessary delays for the mine to restart operations.”

In February 2016, a metal container in which the three miners were working fell into a sinkhole and was buried by thousands of tons of rock.

The company was subsequently put into liquidation by Vantage Goldfields.

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