ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has given Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe 60 days to retrieve the remains of three workers who died in the Lily Mine collapse.
ActionSA will take matters into its own hands if Mantashe fails, Mashaba stated.
Solomon Nyirenda, Pretty Nkambule, and Yvonne Nkosi were trapped when a container they were working in sank during a mine collapse in 2016.
“They left behind grieving families who have endured years of pain, clinging to the unfulfilled promise that the remains of their loved ones would be retrieved.
“Like the families of those who died in the anti-apartheid struggle and other recent tragedies, they too deserve the dignity of a proper burial and the closure that comes with it,” said Mashaba.
Initiative to retrieve the container
Their families have since been waiting for the bodies to be brought home for proper burials.
ActionSA has already taken steps to arrange an independent recovery, according to Mashaba, including gaining access to the mine and consulting with mine rescue specialists.
Those efforts, he said, are temporarily on hold to give Mantashe time to act.
“Following Minister Gwede Mantashe’s recent promise, ActionSA has temporarily suspended our independent initiative to retrieve the container.
“Minister Mantashe has, on numerous occasions, promised that his department would facilitate the retrieval of the bodies of Nyirenda, Nkambule, and Mnisi.
“These undertakings have consistently been communicated to the affected families, who continue to wait in anguish,” Mashaba added.
Insensitivity towards plight of poor people
He said the government’s failure to retrieve the miners’ bodies shows what he referred to as continued insensitivity towards the plight of “poor South Africans, particularly black citizens”.
Sunday World previously reported that ActionSA has petitioned the Johannesburg High Court for access to the Lily Mine site in Mpumalanga.
In its court application, ActionSA asks for permission to designate a certified mine rescue organisation to retrieve the miners’ remains.
It also emphasises that in order to move forward with the recovery, MIMCO, the mine owner, and RC Devereux, the designated business rescue practitioner, must give their approval.
In a letter to RC Devereux, the party offered to retrieve the bodies at its own expense, but it never received a response, which prompted the legal action.
