Union ‘has proof’ that Lily Mine tragedy could have been prevented
Trade union Solidarity has claimed it has proof that the Lily Mine tragedy could have been prevented.
“We decided that the information will be handled as confidential while the investigation is ongoing. This way we might be able to avoid closing the mine, that will lead to hundreds of workers losing their jobs,” secretary-general Gideon du Plessis said.
Making the information public would have slowed down efforts to find the three workers still trapped underground, he said.
The union cancelled a press briefing it had scheduled for yesterday after meeting the mineral resources department’s acting director-general, David Msiza, and the mine’s owner, Vantage Goldfields, to discuss the cause of the disaster. Du Plessis said someone had been negligent and the time had come to bring the guilty parties to book.
Vantage Goldfields spokesperson Coetzee Zietsman said Solidarity had no members working at Lily Mine, near Barberton in Mpumalanga.
“We were quite shocked when we heard about this media briefing without having the details about what was to be discussed,” Zietsman said.
Part of the coal mine collapsed on Friday, February 5. Three employees – Yvonne Mnisi, and Simon Nyerenda – were in a lamp room housed in a shipping container on the surface. It disappeared into a sinkhole about the size of a rugby field and was buried under tons of rock.
Seventy-five miners who were underground at the time escaped unhurt and made it to safety. Two subsequent collapses at the mine have halted all attempts to find the three. once another entrance to the deeper levels had been designed and built.
Christopher Nkambule, Pretty’s husband, said since the tragedy, they have struggled to get by.
“I don’t believe that black lives matter. My wife left me with four kids and you can imagine the pain of asking about their mother every day,” said Nkambule.
Nkambule added that he also works at Lilly mine and that mineworkers no longer feel safe.
“The tragedy proved that as workers our lives don’t matter; they only matter when we are able to go to work and produce money, but when we are in trouble the management sits back. This is very painful. This tragedy has left me broken, but I have given my hope unto God to take care of the rest,” he said.
He explained that he needed closure, but it seemed like the situation was getting worse every day.
“Hope is fading away. My wife’s five years of working in the mine has ended in her being trapped deep in the mine. It is very sad for me and my kids. I don’t even know what to tell my kids about what happened to their mother. I am emotionally drained,” Nkambule said.
Nkambule believes that there must be something that can be done to rescue them.
“It even hurts more that the news has calmed down as if they have forgotten about them,” said Nkambule.