ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has been accused of using the Lily Mine disaster in Mpumalanga to advance the political goals of the ANC.
The families of Solomon Nyirenda, Yvonne Mnisi and Pretty Nkambule told Sunday World that Mbalula promised the ANC would urgently organise the retrieval of the three miners from the shipping container that has entombed them for the past seven years.
Nyirenda, Mnisi and Nkambule were part of a group of 90 miners who were trapped in the mine in Louisville near Barberton on February 5, 2016.
Eighty-seven workers were successfully rescued but the three miners, who worked in the lamproom, remained stuck 80m below the surface.
“ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula lied to the families of the three miners when he told them at the beginning of May that the miners’ bodies would be retrieved within three months.
“More than three months have passed since he made the promise to the families at a Worker’s Day event in Louisville, where the mine is located. Since then, no progress has been achieved, and instead, ongoing litigation has played a role in concluding rescue operations,” said Henry Mazibuko, spokesperson for the families.
Mazibuko, a former Lily Mine worker familiar with the tragedy, further accused Mbalula of defying the families’ instructions that the ANC not bus people to the Labour Day event in Louisville.
“The families also requested that no loud hailers be used but that a sombre approach be taken to pay respect to the lost miners. The ANC has consistently let down the families of the victims and former employees.
“Numerous ANC leaders, including former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane and former premier David Mabuza, have promised progress in retrieving the miners’ bodies, but to date, no rescue operations have been started,” he said.
Although the families have chosen not to align with any political party, ActionSA president
Herman Mashaba has been praised for his genuine support.
“Mashaba has cared enough for the families of the victims to assist the families in legal action against the mine owner and the state. Mashaba has also written numerous letters to plead with the ANC government to take action and has helped draw attention to the ongoing tragedy in the media.
“The families of the three miners who died ask that the ANC government urgently fulfil the promises made to them and take tangible steps to help them retrieve the bodies of their loved ones so that they can give them a dignified burial.”
Mazibuko called on the government to take steps to help find the miners’ bodies so that their families can have a respectful and dignified funeral.
Days after the incident in 2016, experts said there wasn’t enough air underground, so the rescue efforts turned into a retrieval operation. Shortly after, Australian company Vantage Goldfields stopped the rescue operation because they were worried that the people they hired to do the job could get stuck themselves.
Last month, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed an application by Vantage Goldfields to challenge the Mbombela High Court ruling that independent creditor Arqomanzi acquire the mine, along with another one known as Barbrook.
Arqomanzi intends to resume operations at Lily Mine with an offer to give miners back their jobs and to help retrieve the container that trapped the workers in a sink hole.
Mbalula has not responded our written questions.
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